


Plus One

by superdanys



Category: Druck, Plus One 2019
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Trans Character, Changing POV, Davenzi, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Sorta Smut, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2020-11-25 17:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 65,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20915603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superdanys/pseuds/superdanys
Summary: In order to survive a summer of wedding fever, longtime single friends, David and Matteo, agree to be each other's plus one at every wedding they've been invited to.





	1. The Best Man's Speech

**Author's Note:**

> \- This is almost, word for word, a copy of the actual movie. Like, I watched the movie and then a few days later associated almost everything with Matteo and David so please, if you've seen this movie, know that sometimes it's basically just like reading subtitles. I really just wanted to get into it and see how I think David and Matteo would react to some stuff that went on. I'm aware that there's some stuff I'll have to change around so at least I'll have parts where I actually have to try to make something original.  
\- The crew is about 26-28 years old in this  
\- Matteo and Amira (and Mohammed) are close in this because I really loved the best buds and Druck kinda took that away from me lol  
\- I'm sure it'll be clear in my writing but I am not German so if I write something weird, I'm sorry lol  
\- POV will change a few times even without me actually pointing it out but that's because I suck at POV changes pls forgive me

"I always knew you’d be the first to go, but, I guess it makes sense.” Matteo paused, thinking about his next words as he read off the paper in his hands. “It’s just like the sleepovers we used to have. We were young but we were kings.”

“Matteo,” David said in a deadpan tone, staring at him from the bed he was sitting on with confusion clear on his face. They were currently in Matteo’s hotel room. A small but fancy room enough for a bed, a couch, a TV, and a table by the window with a pretty nice view where they’d eaten breakfast this morning when David had come knocking at 8 AM.

“A group of bros trying to stay up as late as we could.” Matteo continued, ignoring David’s interruption. “_Nothing_ could make us surrender our freedom.” His tone was light as he remembered their past while he continued his speech, he lifted his fist for emphasis after thinking for a brief second.

“Matteo,” David said again in the same tone with the same expression except for this time he looked like he wanted to laugh at him.

“Yes, David?” He asked, not hiding the annoyance in his voice.

“Sorry, but I have a question. Why is this whole thing about children sleeping?” He asked, tilting his head.

“It’s an allegory,” Matteo said as an explanation, “Can you just let me finish?” He asked him, annoyed that he’d been interrupted at all. Time was passing by and they would have to be at Jonas and Hanna’s wedding soon and he was already beginning to feel anxious about talking in front of a crowd but also the thought of losing his best friend to married life was hanging over his head like a shadow just ready to fall over him.

There was also the fact that he was thinking about his brand new ex-boyfriend Peter, who had decided to dump him a month before his best friends wedding, forcing Hanna to readjust the seating and giving her no choice but to place him at the singles table with David, who he didn’t exactly mind spending time with but who he knew would heavily judge his actions at the reception later tonight and he wasn’t sure if he’d want to deal with it. Although, he was sure that his mind would change the more he had to socialize with others. And when he got a few drinks in him.

“Oh! Okay. Well, as an _allegory_, then this is amazing.” David responded barely concealing the fact that he was messing with him now.

“You promised you would be supportive.”

“I am! I just told you it’s amazing!” David quickly responded, waving his hands to encourage him to go on. He wanted to get this wedding over with already because he was sure that Matteo would return to his regularly scheduled sloth-ish ways later on, forcing him to take on the job as caretaker. “Keep going.”

Matteo cleared his throat before starting again, “See, there are a couple of phases to every sleepover. First, there’s the beginning of the night, when everything is perfect and it seems like no one is ever going to bed.” He ignores the snort from David. “Then a few guys pass out and everyone makes fun of them for being weak and soft.”

“Soft?” David repeats after him, taken aback by his choice of words.

Matteo glared at him and doesn’t respond, instead continuing with his allegory. “But slowly, the rest pass out, and before you know it, it’s down to you and one other person.” He pauses and pretends he’s looking out at the guests at the wedding, making a point to not meet David’s gaze who was now pressing his lips together to stop himself from laughing. “That was always me and Jonas. Brothers in arms.” His lips lifted with a smile as his last words echoed in his head. He was very proud of them.

“Well, that was fuckin’ weird,” David said, snapping him out of his thoughts and quickly bringing him back down to earth. 

“Alright,” Matteo responded as he folded up his speech before walking over to grab his suit jacket that was hung over the chair at the window. “The speech is good. You’re just being a dick.” He said, putting his jacket on. 

“Um, I’m sorry, Matteo. Do you know what a best man’s speech is?” David asked him, tilting his head in his signature David way and pursing his lips to keep from smiling.

“Yes! It’s one man’s heartfelt truth spoken publicly to another who happens to be getting married…and leaving me behind forever.”

“Yikes.” Was all David could manage to say.

“I’m fine,” Matteo said after a second. Now he was sitting down and putting on his shoes, forcing his brain to _not_ think about his crappy situation. Today was not about him. “I’m happy for Jonas!”

“Clearly.”

“Okay! This has been great.” Matteo began,

“I agree.”

“But, I think it’s time for you to go back to your room.” He continued.

“I don’t like my room.” David simply says.

“Well, I’ve got to get to my best-man duties,” Matteo tells him as he’s pushing him out the door. “Come on.”

“Duties? What duties?” David asks him, resisting as he’s being pushed out. He reached down to grab his shoes that he’d taken off the second he’d entered Matteo’s room. He wanted to be comfortable while he listened to whatever disaster speech he was planning on giving.

“Pictures, mingling. All very exhausting stuff that I need some time to prepare for.” Matteo had gotten David halfway through the door, half of the man’s body refusing to leave. 

“I’ve got zero duties,” David told him, pouting slightly at the thought of having to stay in his room and waiting alone to watch another one of his friends get married while he sat at the singles table. The thought of listening to Matteo’s embarrassing speech did cheer him up a bit, though. And, although it was selfish, David was glad that he’d have some sort of companionship at the singles table. The people there were weird, even more than Matteo.

“Come on,” Matteo said again, shoving David’s shoulder. 

“Matteo, I’m trying to help you, okay?” David said as he continued to resist, “A wedding speech is just making people laugh! Jonas and Hanna don’t wanna hear your weird, jealous sendoff for Jonas.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“You’re a little jelly. You’re a little jelly bean.” He reached his free hand up and poked his nose. “Boop-boop-beep.”

Matteo rolled his eyes and pushed him one more time, this time succeeding in separating them. “Bye, David.” He said while locking his door. 

“Okay, bye,” David responded from the other side. “Your speech sucked. Just tell them a funny story! You’ll thank me later!”

“Fuck,” Matteo muttered to himself as he heard David’s retreating footsteps. He knew that David was right.

  
***

“But somehow, Hanna still thought that Jonas was attractive after that!” Matteo was at the front now, giving his quickly rewritten speech to two of his oldest friends. The crowd was laughing at his story like David said they would and he was annoyed that he would have to face David’s arrogance when he got to their table. But for now, he was just glad the speech was over. “I’d like to raise a glass to Hanna and Jonas. I love you two so much. Congratulations!” The crowd cheered and Matteo downed his glass of champagne like he would a bottle of beer. Finally, he was no longer responsible for anything except his growing need for escape and since he couldn’t exactly leave his best friend's wedding, he’d have to settle for the sweet sweet call of alcohol.

  
Matteo saw Hanna and Jonas headed his way and met them halfway from the little stage he was standing on. 

“Broooo, get over here,” Jonas exclaimed while pulling him into a hug. 

“That was amazing!” Hanna said, wrapping one of her arms around him as well. 

“You liked it?” Matteo asked, relieved that he managed to not fuck something so important up. 

“Loved it!” Jonas said, squeezing his arm. 

“Oh, good!” Matteo responded, the relief evident in his tone.

“That was so good, Matteo!” Hanna said and he was glad to hear her compliment him again.

“Alright, let’s get the bride and groom out on the dance floor!” Came the voice of the DJ, stopping Matteo, Hanna, and Jonas’ conversation.

“We’ll see you in a second,” Jonas said before they both squeezed him once more then moving away to have their first dance as Husband and Wife.

Matteo decided that he needed at least four more glasses of champagne before he reached David and before he socialized with any of their friends. He’d cornered a waiter and had them stay there while he pulled each glass and chugged them down one after the other, letting out a small burp and then patting them on their shoulder as a way of thanks before sending them away. 

When he got to the table, David wasn’t there. Rolling his eyes, he turned around to see if he could spot David in the crowd. They were about the same height so it wouldn’t be too hard to see his dark hair walking around but before he got a proper look around, his old friends from high school got to him first.

Amira, Kiki, Mia, and Sam were all dressed in matching maroon dresses and they all had big smiles on their faces as they each pulled him in for a hug. 

“Na?” Amira said to him when it was her turn to hug him, opting instead for their personal handshake that ended with a snap. He could see that Amira was annoyed at him but it seemed that she would allow him to live, if only for a few more minutes.

“Na.” He responded, smiling widely at her. “You look like angels,” He said, taking a step back from them.

“I think you cleaned up pretty nicely, Florenzi,” Sam said, a compliment that he greatly appreciated although he never cared much about how he looked, it was nice to hear that he didn’t look like shit.

He noticed that Kiki and Mia were exchanging glances with each other before Kiki spoke to him. “Are you okay?” She asked him, immediately followed by Mia. 

“We heard you and Peter broke up but we were a bit caught up with Hanna and we weren’t sure how or if we should reach out.”

“Yeah,” Kiki said, “Carlos told me we should give you some space.”

Sam reached over and wrapped an arm around him and pretty soon he was in a group hug with all of them telling him that they were sorry to hear about the breakup and how Peter was an ass that they didn’t like anyway. Matteo couldn’t help but smile after receiving so much love from his friends and he wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol finally settling in his system, but his body was beginning to calm from the nerves he had before. The group wobbled a bit as two people crashed into Matteo from behind and one crashed into them from another side of the group, the three of them wrapping their arms around the rest and him.

“Everything okay over here?” Carlos asked, his breath touching Matteo’s right ear and making him flinch away causing him to hit Abdi, who was on his left side, in the head with his head. 

“Ouch!” Abdi exclaimed, clutching the side of his face and pulling away from the hug. Everyone followed suit, laughing at Abdi’s grimace on his face and Matteo noticed that the third person that attacked their group was Mohammed, Amira’s husband.

“Sorry,” Matteo said to Abdi, patting his face as he laughed at him. Abdi brushed his hand away and then shoved his hand in Matteo’s face.

“Whatever,” He said but Matteo knew he wasn’t angry with him.

“Came to see if you wanted to dance, Kiki,” Carlos said to her with his hand reaching out and a smile on his face. Kiki beamed at him and nodded before telling the girls she’d speak to them later and patting Matteo on the shoulder once more. 

“Na, Mohammed?” Matteo said to him, a smile on his face as he reached out to bump fists with him. 

“Na,” He responded.

Soon, Sam had grabbed Abdi and Mia was swept away by Alex to follow Kiki and Carlos to the dance floor, leaving Matteo with Amira and Mohammed, the ones who stayed in touch with him the most, apart from Jonas and David, so much that he had weekly dinners with them...except for the last month while he dealt with his breakup the best way he knew how - seclusion. Hence Amira’s annoyance.

Mohammed and Amira were the first to get married out of the group, much to everyone’s surprise since they’d all expected Carlos and Kiki to tie the knot before anyone else. They’d waited until they were both out of college and in their respective careers before merging their lives and by the time Amira and Mohammed got married, Kiki and Carlos had been together for 6 years. Matteo never asked why they hadn’t married yet, though and he wasn’t planning on asking now. Amira’s wedding was where Matteo had seen Peter for the first time and they’d begun their 3 year relationship soon after.

“I’m sorry, man,” Mohammed had begun to say as if he was reading his mind but Matteo quickly stopped him. 

“Don’t worry about it. He made his own decisions and there was nothing anyone could have done about it.” This was something Matteo would tell himself whenever he was feeling insecure about himself and their breakup. Sometimes it worked. 

Mohammed sighed and placed his hand on Matteo’s shoulder. “You’re right but I worked closely with him and I wish I would’ve noticed something. I’ll be sure to keep him away from you when we’re at work, okay?”

Matteo rolled his eyes and looked over at Amira. “Are you telling him to do this?” He asked her and judging by her innocent expression, he knew she was at the very least encouraging Mohammed to have Matteo’s back at their job and it made his chest swell with happiness. She might’ve been annoyed at him but she still had his back.

“We should dance!” Amira said to Mohammed before turning to Matteo, “And if it was me there with you, Peter would get his ass kicked.” she informed him, before giving Matteo one of her bright smiles and pulling a laughing Mohammed away. He was glad to see that she was letting him live, though he wondered what she would do if he missed another dinner night.

After a few seconds of standing there alone, Matteo made his way over to the dance floor on his own. He was shuffling his body along to the song, sure that he was moving with the beat but he definitely wasn’t. He could feel the effects of his drinking now. He moved past all the couples while doing some weird movement of his hands and spinning around at some point before making contact with someone’s body. “David!” He said, “I’ve been looking for you! Everyone has gone dancing.”

His words were slurring and David reached his arms out to steady him. “Did you get blackout the few minutes I left you alone?” David asked, incredulous.

“Did you get blackout the few minutes you left me alone?” Matteo responded and giggled when David rolled his eyes. 

“Fucking hell,” David muttered to himself.

“Looks like it wasn’t such a bad speech after all.” He said to David, he could feel his face heating up now. He was probably as red as a tomato but he didn’t mind, this was what he needed right now watching all these couples. 

“Yeah, you changed the whole thing ‘cause of me,” David said with a smirk and then began to sway with Matteo. “I saved the speech! I’m a hero.”

Matteo laughed and reached out to another waiter that was passing by them, he grabbed two off the tray and took them down before reaching for the other two and finishing those off as well. When he turned back to David, the brunette was staring at him with a mixture of pity and repulsion on his face.

“David, hi!” A voice that Matteo didn’t recognize came from behind him and then arms were around David and Matteo was being pushed away.

**David** had been swept away by Jess Ramsey, an old friend of his from college that knew him, Matteo, and the gangs. He’d met her when their college was doing a play and they were supposed to kiss each other at some point in it and as a way of getting comfortable enough to do it, they’d hung out and gotten to know each other. He had a crush on her ever since but could never catch her when she wasn’t with someone, even when they had shared a kiss at the plays after party. He was hoping she would be here tonight. 

“Jess Ramsey!” David said, greeting her by happily saying her first and last name together - he really liked it when someone had a first name and last name that fit well together.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all night,” She said to him, lightly touching his arm.

“Oh, sorry! I’ve been going around saying hello to everyone, I haven’t seen some of the people here in years!”

Jess laughed and nodded her head, “Yeah, same here. It’s nice to see everyone, though. I feel like I’ve been busy for the last 3 years.”

Matteo, who had been swaying around in a circle certainly not dancing to the song that was playing, had made his way back over to them and bumped into David. “You’re the best man, right? Your speech was so good.” Jess said to him, a smile on her face.

“Yeah,” David said before Matteo could say anything else, “took us forever to write it.” Jess’s attention was back on him like he wanted it.

“Oh, you helped with the speech?” She asked and David nodded proudly.

“Just the good parts were me, though.” David said quickly, “The stuff about the kids and sleepovers was all this guy.” He reached over and patted Matteo’s back, laughing.

Matteo was opening his mouth to say something else but David interrupted before he could, “You know what Matteo, I think Amira is looking for you!” And when Matteo turned around to look for Amira, he pulled Jess away before he could turn his attention back to them.

“You’re a bad person!” He heard Matteo yell when he’d realized that David was ditching him, but David knew he’d forgive him later on.

“Was that your boyfriend?” Jess asked him as she followed next to him.

“Matteo? Oh no. He’s just my friend from college.” David had led them to the other side of the room away from Matteo who he figured would be a little too lazy and drunk to look for him.

“We’re gonna slow things down here.” David heard the DJ say before a soft song began to play and he reached his arm out to Jess, “Shall we?” He asked her, tilting his head and smiling, and she nodded.

“Oh, sure.” She said, taking hold on his arm and letting him pull her into his arms.

Now that they were closer, David felt a little awkward with the silence. “So, how have you been?” He asked her, settling for small talk but hoping they’d get comfortable somewhere into it.

“I’ve been good,” She said, “It’s wedding season so you know, I’ve been kind of-”

“Depressed? Totally.” David finished for her and successfully getting a laugh out of her before she continued.

“I was gonna say busy.”

David nodded and tilted his head, his face in a mock-serious expression, “Yes. Busy. Busy is the word.” She chuckled and hit his arm softly.

“David!” Matteo yelled and David groaned to himself, not wanting to turn around. “David!” He yelled again and Jess looked over at him,

“Oh!” She said and this prompts him to turn around to see what he’s doing. Matteo was standing beside one of Hanna’s little cousins, his hand wrapped around the child’s arm while his other hand was softly moving up and down on the kid's forearm. The kid, who looked about 13 years old, was staring at Matteo in confusion.

“David come touch this kid’s arm!” Matteo said, “He’s so soft.”

David turned to Jess and sighed, “He’s not usually like this.” He explained, not wanting to look back at Matteo because he feared that looking at him again would make him ditch Jess, _the_ Jess Ramsey that he’s been waiting to see, and go help a drunken Matteo.

“He’s going through a break up.” They were still watching Matteo.

“Is he okay?” She turned to look at David, “I mean, should you go help him?” She asked.

“Um, I think he’s fine.” He assured her and shook his head right when Matteo decided to yell again, “David, come touch him!”

When the song was over, David and Jess spent a few more minutes catching up. They spoke about their lives after college and the jobs they’d worked up until now until Jess announced that it was getting late and should probably get back to her hotel.

“It’s gorgeous out here!” He said when they’d gotten outside to wait for her Lyft to show up, “I thought the inside was great but now I’m outside and I’m like ‘What have I been doing inside?’ It’s fantastic.”

Jess looked around and nodded before turning back to the reception where there were still a good amount of people dancing and drinking. “Are you sure Matteo will be okay?” She asked, her brow furrowed in concern.

“Yeah, yeah! Jonas sent him on a shuttle back to the hotel and as long as he can make it to his room, he should be fine.”

“I feel like that might be a challenge for him,” Jess said, squinting her eyes as she tilted her head and scrunched her nose in amusement. 

“Oh, it’s definitely up for grabs. Yes.” David agreed, chuckling at her expression.

“You totally could’ve stayed with him,” She says, “I mean, I’m just gonna get a car and head home.”

David was shaking his head before she could finish, “No, no, no. I mean, I feel like I so rarely get to see you. This was great to just catch up.”

“Yeah,” She admits, still smiling.

“Yeah.” Looking down at her, David’s eyes moved down to her lips and then back to her eyes. “Matteo and I, we’re not even really that close. He just needs a shoulder to cry on right now.”

“And you get to be that lucky shoulder,” She says, understanding but still joking with him.

“Yeah. I feel really, um, blessed and honored.” He sighed and looked around, “That’s one of the many gifts of being at the singles’ table. You get all the...singles that come with it.”

Jess laughed, “Sounds like you need a new table.”

  
David felt the mood change when it did, she was closer to him now and her hand was resting comfortably on his arm. “Well,” he said jokingly, “You have to be in a relationship for that.”

“That can’t be a problem for you.” Jess said, “You’re cute and charming and funny.”

“Go on,” David chimed in and now they were just looking at each other, both with a smile on their face. The moment was right, he could feel it. They were under the moonlight and a few twinkling lights were reaching them from the reception hall. He leaned in to press his lips against hers but she jerked back almost immediately.

“Oh, my god.” She said, putting a few feet between them. “Oh, God. Oh, uh…” She was looking all around, at everything except him.

“I’m sorry!” David said, “Did I just do something horrible?”

“It’s okay,” Jess said, “It’s just, um, I’m engaged.” And she lifted her left hand to show the ring that was on her finger, something he hadn’t noticed the entire time they were together.

“Was that there the whole time?” He dumbly asked, his hand going to the back of his neck.

“Yeah,” She mumbled.

“Okay…” David looked around, trying to think of something to say. “I guess I need to start looking out for those.” He put his hand to his forehead and shook his head. “I’m so sorry, I had absolutely no idea.”

Jess nodded her head, “It’s okay,” she said again but David knew it wasn’t. “Um, I’m just gonna get a car, though, and head home. I have a crazy day tomorrow and I need…”

David was nodding, he understood her need for wanting to get away from him. “Yeah, yeah.” He said softly and quickly, “For sure.”

“It was so nice seeing you, though,” Jess told him.

“Yeah! This was, um, thi-this was great.”

“Yup.”  
“Yeah.”

David didn’t know what got into him and told him he should reach in for a goodbye hug but he did so anyway.

She grimaced at him and said, “Oh,” before reaching out and putting her hand up, a clear signal that she did not want a hug.

He quickly pulled away, apologizing again. “Okay, well…” She said slowly, waving slightly at him.

“Yeah. Bye, Jess. See ya.” David was backing away from her now as quickly as he could manage.

“Bye, David,” Jess said before completely turning away from him.

  
***

David had gotten the hell away from that wedding the second he could. 

He was glad that he’d driven himself to the wedding and didn’t have to worry about waiting for a shuttle to get him and take him back to his hotel. All he wanted to do now was take a shower and go to bed and forget the entire ordeal even took place. He was happy for Jonas and Hanna but, unlike them, he didn’t have anyone to go back to his hotel room with. They wouldn’t miss him.

As he stepped out of the elevator and headed towards his door, he rubbed the back of his neck and thought of the comfortable hotel bed waiting for him. After getting to the door and inserting the key, he was greeted by loud moaning as he pushed his door open. Confused and wondering if he might have entered the wrong room, David Looked up and saw that the number on the door and his key card was the same. He walked into the room and was met with the sight of Matteo, his entire body taking up the bed and a bowl of chips on his stomach, an empty wine bottle next to him.

“What are you doing here?” David asked him, his lips pressing together in annoyance. All he wanted was a quiet night in his hotel room.

“I’m catching up on an old episode of ‘Bones’,” He said, laughing at his dumb joke. 

“How did you even get in here?” David asked as he walked over to him to turn off the TV.

“I stole one of your key cards last night when I came over for dinner.”

David rolled his eyes and took off his jacket, “Well, that’s just a huge violation of privacy.”

Matteo just shrugged and said, “Sorry.”

Matteo adjusted himself so he was sitting up on the bed instead of half lying down, “How’d it go with blondie?” He asked David, who was now sitting on the couch. The room was almost identical to Matteo’s.

“I ate shit.” He said, rubbing his face and groaning loudly as he remembered the last hour. “Went in for the kiss. Did not go well.” He sighed again, “Apparently, she’s engaged because of course she is.” He paused and wondered if he should say what he wanted to say, but continued because he knew Matteo wouldn’t judge him. “Though, I feel a little led on because she touches me a lot for someone with a fianc-” He was stopped by a loud sob coming from Matteo.

“Hey, hey.” He said, rushing over to wrap his arms around him. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He said softly, reaching over to get a tissue from the nightstand. Matteo blew his nose loudly into the tissue and David had to force himself to not gag and move away from him, “Is it a Peter thing?” He asks.

“No, it’s not a Peter thing! God!” Matteo half shouts, tears streaming down his face.

“Okay, okay,” David consoled him, rubbing his hands up and down his arm, confused but not wanting to see his friend upset.

“It’s just - why does everyone have to get married now?”

“So it is a Peter thing,”

Matteo ignored him and continued, “I have four more to go to this year! Four!” His sobbing had gone down, apparently, David consoling him was helping in some way.

“I’ve got you beat,” David responded, “Six.” Sighing, David moved away from Matteo to get him a cup of water, once he handed it to him he sat down on the couch’s arm rest, resting his elbows on his knees, he could feel Matteo’s tear-filled eyes on him. “I feel like once everybody saw 30 on the horizon they were like, ‘Hey, guys. Um, you know what? I would like to get engaged’.”

After a moment of silence, Matteo spoke up. “Hey, David?”

“Yeah, Matteo?”

“Will you come to Jason and Sarah’s wedding with me next weekend?”

David frowned at him, “Matteo, I’m not looking to go to more of these. And besides, I don’t even know them.”

“I already told them I was bringing someone when Peter and I were still together, and I really don’t wanna go alone.” He sobbed. David knew what he was doing but he wasn’t going to fall for it. Next weekend he just wanted to spend at home, or maybe at a club with some friends, not at some random strangers' wedding. Especially since he had another one to go to in 2 weeks. But Matteo continued, “There’s gonna be a lot of cute people there! You might meet someone, someone ever better than Jen Rimbly!”

“Jess Ramsey,” David corrected him, he still liked saying her name. “You know who she is.” Matteo’s confused expression appeared almost immediately, “Remember she came to visit our dorm freshman year? She almost spent the night in our room when we were doing that play where we had to kiss but then we actually kissed at the after-party?”

Matteo, momentarily sidetracked from his tears, shook his head. “I’m really sorry, David. I must have cleared out the memory of her to make space for something else.”

“Okay! This has been great,” David said, echoing the same words Matteo had said to him early on in the day when he was kicking David out of his room.

“No, no, no,” Matteo quickly adjusted himself on the bed, this time on his knees, his tone apologetic. “Please, David.” He sniffed, his eyes watering again. “I promise you’re gonna find someone, and if you don’t, I will pay someone to take care of you.”

“No,” David shook his head, “No deal.”

“So we have a deal,” Matteo said and reached out to grab and shake David’s hand despite David already rejecting it.

David was a little amused watching his friend shake his limp hand and he had wanted to argue with him a little more but he had no more time to respond to Matteo. The blonde had said, “Oh.” And began to look around for something while gagging.

“Oh shit,” David said when he understood what was about to happen and he quickly stood up to look around for something he could use.

He saw an ice bucket on the tv stand where he’d placed it earlier and quickly picked it up, making sure to dump the spoon that was inside on the table and then went back over to Matteo. He gagged a few times, his eyes wide with drunken panic. 

“Here,” David placed the bucket close to his face and helped him bend over so he could throw up. “You’re okay,” He said, looking away from the mess but rubbing Matteo’s back with his other hand to soothe him. _Please don’t get vomit on my hand_, David thought to himself.

Matteo grunted and coughed a few times into the bucket and David continued to rub his back, and while he was concerned about vomit getting on his arm, he was also thinking about Matteo’s tear-filled request and how he knew he was gonna go with him no matter how against it he was.


	2. Soup is Good for the Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matteo reflects on his previous relationship and finally joins Amira and Mohammed for dinner.  
David spends some time alone drawing until his sister brings news about their father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I suck at summaries I'm so sorry!!

**David **had discovered that the only downside of driving yourself to a wedding was giving rides to those who didn’t.

He didn’t know how Matteo got to their hotel because they’d arrived at separate times and never discussed their travel situations beforehand. He also didn’t know how Matteo had gotten to the actual wedding and reception because they didn’t talk about that either. He knew how he was getting back home, though, despite having not spoken about it.

Until this morning when he found Matteo waiting for him in the lobby, sunglasses covering his eyes to help with his hangover and some kind of drink in his hand.

So now Matteo was in his passenger seat fast asleep with his face scrunched up against the window that David was sure was making the weirdest expression on the other side.

He had finally gone back to his hotel room after he threw up a second time in David’s ice bucket. He most definitely wanted to stay in David’s room, but that was not something David was up to saying yes to. Especially since Matteo was trying to convince him to go to a wedding for people he’d never met.

The opportunity to hook up with someone at the wedding interested him, though. Not that David wanted to have sex with everyone there because he didn’t, usually the furthest he went with anyone he wasn't comfortable with was kissing, he was just hoping that he might find _the one_. This was not something he’d express to Matteo, though, because he was sure that he would mock him relentlessly.

David just thought weddings had an atmosphere that would be perfect for finding someone for himself. He and another person would lock eyes and everything would just line up…

Turning one final corner, David hit the brakes on his car and turned it off when they’d gotten to Matteo’s place. “Hey, Matteo?” He said and wasn’t surprised when he was completely ignored. Rolling his eyes, David placed his hand on his window switch and pressed a button twice. The window Matteo had pressed his face against pulled down and then up, startling him awake.

“Aah!” Matteo shouted in surprise.

“You’re home,”

“What the fuck?” Matteo grumbled, turning to look at David’s unbothered expression. “You’re such an asshole.” 

David watched as Matteo unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed open the door, struggling to pull himself out of the car and then going to the backdoor to take out his luggage, which was another struggle.

After a few seconds of fighting with his suitcase, with absolutely _no _help from David, Matteo succeeded in removing his bag.

“Bye,” David said and Matteo flipped him off before slowly walking to the front door of his apartment. 

***

**Matteo** took his time to open his door. Some would say it was his hangover keeping him from properly entering the key in the knob, for stumbling and dropping the key two times before he got it in. But he knew what he would find when he entered his home, he knew how he would feel. The deafening sound of silence in his apartment was something Matteo tried very hard to avoid, but it wasn’t possible right now. David had already left, and it was Sunday, no one wanted to hang out today. He was sure that he’d be able to stop by Amira’s but they were probably just getting in from the wedding too and he didn’t want to bother them. There was also the fact that it was the middle of June and it was hot as hell outside. With a sigh, Matteo turned the doorknob and yanked his luggage inside with him. 

And everything was exactly the way he knew it would be. He left his bag at the front door and placed his keys on the table next to it before walking past all the scattered boxes in his living room that had ‘Peter’s Shit’ written on it, a fun message Matteo had written when he’d had one too many the week before, and going straight to the bathroom to piss. 

Once he was finished, Matteo washed his hands and tried his best to avoid his reflection in the mirror over the sink. Everything he was feeling now was reminding him of his youth, of the times he used to hide in the bathroom at parties because everyone was being too loud and people were expecting him to do everything straight boys did when they were at parties because there were girls around. He’d hated himself then for wanting to perform for others and doing what they wanted him to do so they would accept him and not question him. At that time, he was isolating and numbing himself because he couldn’t accept that he was even worthy of love and friendship and the ability to be who he was without being questioned. When he came out as gay to his friends, they’d completely surprised him with how accepting they were of him. He almost felt guilty for doubting them. 

But now, he wasn’t sure why he was cutting himself off from his friends. He knew they cared about him and would comfort him if he needed it. _ Heartbreak is normal_, Jonas had texted him when he'd told him and then he came over and spent hours with him drinking and talking about anything and everything. The next day Amira had stopped by with dessert to check on him, saying that sweets were good when you get your heart broken. But was Matteo’s heart broken? He didn’t want to tell Amira he wasn’t sure if he even loved Peter or if it was just the routine that he missed. The fact that someone was waiting at home for him when he went out, that someone was _there _to reach out to with little effort. 

He’d spent 3 years with Peter and it hurt when he left, but the biggest thing that worried Matteo was the silence in the apartment and how he knew it would mess with his head. 

Matteo looked up and took in his reflection. It took him so long for him to accept himself and he didn’t want a break up to ruin that for him, especially since he was questioning his feelings. He looked in his tired eyes and then moved to look at the bags under them, then the redness in his cheeks from the heat outside, and the curve of his lips as he frowned. 

_Whatever,_ he thought and sighed before he turned off the faucet, dried his hands and turned the lights off. 

After a few hours of scrolling through his phone, Matteo had fallen asleep to the sound of a random ASMR video he’d found on insta. It wasn’t until the sun was setting that he woke up with his stomach growling at him. With a grunt, he pushed himself off his sofa and stumbled to the almost dark kitchen. He turned the kitchen lights on and searched around for the ingredients to his Pasta alla Luigi, his most famous (and easiest to make) dish. Although cooking did put Matteo’s mind at peace, he couldn’t help that he could feel the empty apartment closing in on him. Mixing the ingredients was not enough to fill the space. 

Pulling out his phone, he scrolled until he found the number of a friend he’d used to bar hop with. “Hey!” Matteo said when he answered the phone, “What’s up, T.J.? How are you, man?” He asked, listening to the males' response on the other end.

“Hey Matteo, I’m alright, what about you, man?” 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Um, listen. I was wondering,” Matteo said into the phone, shifting it slightly to adjust it so he could stir while he spoke. “You and me tonight, going out like old times. What do you think?” 

“Oh, sorry man, I’m having a night in with my boyfriend.”

“Wait, what? Since when are you in a relationship, dude?” _ Ugh, _Matteo thought.

“A few weeks actually, with Henri,” T.J. explained, distracted.

Matteo laughed, “With _Dry Lips_?” 

There was a silence on the other end of the line that Matteo did not think was good.

“Dude, what?” T.J. asked him, his tone was no longer distracted. He was focused on this conversation with the wrong vibes now. 

“Why would you call him that?” He demanded, surprising Matteo.

“No. You called him that, man.” What? Was Matteo supposed to forget all the things he said about his now-boyfriend just because they were together?

He rolled his eyes when T.J.’s next words were a farewell. “Anyway, man, it was nice to catch up.”

“Yeah, okay,” Matteo said, “Let’s chill soon, huh?” He said into the phone, but all he heard was a grunt and then the call went out. 

“What the fuck?” Matteo said to no one as he set his phone on the counter, and then a second later he said, “_Shit!”_ He’d waited too long to remove the pasta from the water and now it was overcooked. With a sigh, he drained the water and finished putting the meal together in the same pot but it wasn’t appealing to him anymore. He set the pot on the counter and turned away from it and went straight to the fridge to pull out a beer and watched a movie instead.

***

**David** had decided the best way to ease his mind was to eat some cereal, put some music on, and draw. He was grateful for the quiet in his home, loved it. Especially when he needed to concentrate. But since he was taking it easy today, he put Lenka’s radio station on in the background, went to the big window in his DIY art studio where he kept his drawing supplies with his cereal in his hand and began to draw, stopping only to take mouthfuls of his cereal. 

He wasn’t keeping track of time, wasn’t even sure what time of day it was while he was drawing. Today was a chill day, a day he could spend alone and no one would tell him he should be somewhere with people because they were also at home doing nothing.

David didn’t look away from his drawing until he heard a click from his front door. The radio station had apparently turned itself off, and he didn’t notice until he heard the door. Frowning, he stood up and left the room. It was either his sister or someone who was trying to rob him. David checked the time and gasped. It was 5 PM, almost 6. 

“When did you get in?” Laura asked him as soon as he turned the corner. Standing there with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face, she looked so much like their mother it made David nervous.

“Um...” David said, giving her a half-smile that he knew would just make him look even more guilty than he already was. 

“Ummm what?” She asked, giving him a dirty look before turning to hook her bag up. “David, I asked you to text me when you got in.” Laura walked over to him, pulling him into a hug before pushing him away.

“I’m sorry,” David apologized, “I got in a few hours ago and I just wanted to spend some time alone. Weddings are exhausting, even if you’re not part of it.” 

Laura’s expression softened, but she still seemed annoyed at him. “Come on, let’s sit down. I’ll get you something to drink.” He offered, smiling again, but she only stared at him for a second before she moved towards his sitting area and took a seat in her favorite spot.

“I’ll take a glass of wine, please.” She told him and then muttered something under her breath that he didn’t catch.

“What was that?” David asked as he walked to the kitchen. Was she insulting him and didn’t want him to hear? That was unlikely. She was his _sister_after all.

“I’ll tell you when you get here.” Was all she said.

David grabbed one of his more expensive wines from his little makeshift wine cellar thing he had in his kitchen and pulled 2 glasses from the cabinet before returning to her. “Snacks?” He asked, setting the bottle and glasses on the coffee table and then sitting across her on the sofa like he usually did.

“Uh, no. I’m good.” Laura took it upon herself to pour as much wine as she could in her glass. She gulped it down before David could even take a sip of his and nodded to herself. 

“I need to tell you something,” She said, and it sent a chill down his spine. Laura was never so serious with him and he was nervous that something bad had happened. She took a deep breath and said, “Dad’s getting remarried and he wants us to speak at his wedding.” David’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the news.

That was not what he thought she was gonna say, not even close. 

“What did you tell him?” He asked her after a few seconds of thinking it over.

“I told him I’d talk to you about it.” She reached over and touched his knee.

“He literally divorced his second wife like 2 years ago,” David said, “and he’s doing it again?”

Laura’s nose wrinkled, and she nodded.

“What’s the point of talking if he’s probably gonna get divorced again, anyway?”

She shrugged at him and took a sip of her wine, and he rolled his eyes, “Why didn’t he just call me to meet up? Why did he send you to talk to me like I’m a child that can’t handle the news?”

“David, I literally told you to call me earlier, and you didn’t even do that. He said he’s been trying to get in touch with you and you never get back to him. Apparently, you’re _ so _ busy.”

“I _ am _ busy.” David retorted.

“Everyone is busy, David.” The corner of her mouth curved up in a smile and she shoved his shoulder. “So are we doing this for a second time or what?”

He rolled his eyes again but nodded, “If you’re doing it, I’m doing it.”  
  
After a moment of them just sipping their wine in comfortable silence, Laura said, “I guess we have little brothers now,” David let out a loud groan and Laura laughed. 

Laura stayed at David’s for dinner, insisting that she wanted to spend time with him because she just wanted to hang out with her brother but David knew that she was just worried about him. She didn’t like that David enjoyed being alone; she didn’t believe that he found comfort in his solitude. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but she’d somehow concluded that he was just suffering in silence because he was too proud to say that he was lonely.

He wasn’t. 

David had friends he could be with if he wanted to. Essam, Omar, Mohammed, and even Matteo would hang out with him if he asked. And if he didn’t want to be around them, he also enjoyed the company of Amira and Sam or Leonie whenever they were available but Laura didn't want to hear that.

“You never post your friends online, how could I believe you?” She’d say when he brought them up.

“I don’t post _them_ but they post _me,_” he'd insist. She would then roll her eyes and he would change the subject.

Before she left, she fixed him with a serious look and told him to call their father. David promised he would. 

When David was 14 and Laura was 19, their parents had announced that they were getting a divorce. At that time, Laura had already moved out so she wasn’t as affected by the separation and emptiness and guilt like David was. He’d just had a conversation with his parents about him being trans and they’d been incredibly supportive of him but then about 6 months later they dropped that bomb on him.

They’d both insisted that he wasn’t at fault and, although it took some time, he believed them. It wasn’t long after that that David began to get bullied at school and when it escalated, both his mother and father decided that the best thing to do would be to send him to a new school where he could start over and that he’d be living with Laura. So, there was no bad blood between him and his parents, just a bit of awkwardness.

David had called his father as soon as Laura left, wanting to get it over with. They’d agreed that he would pick him up, and they’d go get breakfast together and maybe just hang out.

At 7 AM the next day, the sun was shining brightly over everything. It was a Monday, so the streets were busy with people heading to their jobs, everyone except for David who had taken the day off. He was currently at the red light, getting blinded by the sun as he tried to squint to see when the light changed since his visor wasn’t helping him at all.

In a hurry to leave before traffic got terrible, David had left his sunglasses on the kitchen counter. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he noticed something glinting in the sunlight on the floor of the passenger side - Matteo’s sunglasses.

David laughed as he reached over to pick them up and place them over his eyes. He loved it when Matteo’s carelessness with his stuff worked in his favor. He wondered briefly how Matteo was doing, thinking about his tearful request only for a second, before the light turned green and he had to concentrate on the road. 

**

“Dad, I just feel like maybe marriage isn’t your thing, you know?” David and his father were at a window seat at an all-day breakfast restaurant they both liked. His father had waited until the food arrived to tell him the news of his proposal and eventual marriage to his girlfriend, Gina. He was sure that his father knew that Laura had already told him about it, but David was a little glad he chose to say it again to him from his mouth with his own words. “I mean, you’ve already had two that have failed.”

“I don’t view either of them as failures, David.” He said, his father's brown eyes, that looked so much like his own, were looking right into him, his expression serious. Careful.

“She makes me happy.” He’d simply said to him when David had pointed out that she was half his age.

“So did Mom, once.” David had shot back to him, not meaning for it to come out as sharp as it did. 

“Yeah, and we gave it our best shot for 19 years.” His father replied, still serious. 

“I’m just asking you to pace yourself so you don’t make the same mistakes you have before.” David’s voice was serious too as he remembered his first stepmother and how his father had said the same thing about her when he told them they were getting married. He didn’t understand how people could put so much of themselves into another person, to the point of even _marrying_ them, and then just leaving it behind. How could they be so sure and then change their minds?

Ignoring what he said, his father took a bite of his waffle before speaking again, “Gina would like to get to know you over dinner this weekend. All of us.” David took a sip of his coffee, thinking of how he could get away from dinner. “I’d like you to come by. Laura said she would.” 

“You know what? I-I actually can’t.” He said, remembering Matteo again. “I told a friend I’d go to a wedding with him.” 

“Maybe next weekend?”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Laura was gonna be so pissed that she’d be there alone. 

***

**Matteo’s** head was comfortably rested on the kitchen counter at Amira and Mohammed’s house. He was listening to them banter about who was peeling the carrots correctly. Amira insisted that there was no real way to peel a carrot and Mohammed was telling her she only believed that because she didn’t know how to properly peel a carrot and refused to listen to him when he tried to show her. Usually, when they’d joke like this, Matteo would join in and pick sides to throw the other off but today he didn’t have the energy. Besides, the way they were talking made it obvious that they were only pretending so they could get Matteo to talk to them. 

He knew he looked rough when he’d shown up for dinner and he knew it worried them, could see it in their faces when they looked at each other before greeting him and pulling him in for a hug. Amira only ever hugged him when she felt he needed it, and she was right. 

When he’d entered, he’d made a beeline for the couch to lie on until they were finished with the food, but Mohammed had grabbed him before he could run away and pulled him to the kitchen to sit with them. 

“Why don’t we just order pizza?” Matteo grumbled after he’d gotten tired of listening to their half-hearted carrot discussion, “I’ll pay.” He offered, standing up to pull his wallet out of his pants.

“No, no, no,” Amira said, reaching over and pushing him back down on the kitchen stool he sat on. “You need some vegetables.” 

“And some sleep,” Mohammed added and Matteo looked over at him with narrowed eyes.

“I was going to take a nap but you snatched me up before I could.”

Mohammed shrugged, “If I can’t nap, you can’t nap. Besides,” Mohammed handed him a peeler and put some potatoes in front of him, “I need you to peel those.” Matteo groaned but took the peeler from his hand and began to peel them. 

“It’s hot as hell outside and we’re eating soup tonight?” He asked Amira, his brow furrowed as he thought about the heat outside.

She looked up at him and scanned his face, “Soup is good for the soul.”

Matteo rolled his eyes, “My soul is perfectly fine, Amira. What isn’t good is how you’re peeling those carrots.”

Mohammed had moved over to the stove at this point but upon hearing Matteo’s words to Amira, he laughed out loud and moved over to nudge Amira with his elbow. “See? I told you you were doing it wrong.”

It was Amira’s turn to roll her eyes before abandoning the carrots and walking around the counter to sit beside Matteo, “You look tired.” She told him, but Matteo only sighed and continued peeling.

“Have you been getting any sleep, Matteo?” She asked him, her tone serious.

“Ya, _mama ‘Mira_,” Matteo turned to look at her and gave her his most innocent expression.

“I’m serious, Matteo. This is the first time you’ve been around since Peter and we’re worried.” 

“You shouldn’t be worried.” He started to say, but Mohammed stood in front of them now.

“Need those potatoes,” He said and placed a bowl in front of Matteo. Mohammed’s eyes met Amira’s, whose mouth was open and ready to respond to Matteo’s dismissal, and she didn’t continue. 

“We have some leftover Baklava,” Amira said instead, her tone softer and cheerful now. “Mohammed’s mama brought some over on Monday. Would you like some when you’re done with the potatoes?” Matteo nodded, smiling at them both. He appreciated that his friends cared so much for him, but he didn’t want to talk about Peter right now and he was glad that Mohammed stopped Amira. He knew it wouldn’t take long for Amira to question him again, and Mohammed would probably be right behind her with his own questions, but for now, he just wanted to chill. 

His main concern, besides the potatoes in his hand, was that it was Wednesday and David still hadn’t texted him to ask about their plans for the weekend. Yes, he knew that David had said no, but that was usually how it was for him. Give him a few days and he’ll agree to it, but Matteo was a little unsettled nonetheless. 

As if Amira could read his mind, she said, “You and David looked good together at Hanna’s wedding.”

Matteo scoffed and quickly turned to look at her, “Did we look good before or after he ditched me for _whatshername_?”

Amira looked over at Mohammed, her eyes widening in amusement. “Okay..” She said, taken aback by his abrupt response.

“You looked good before,” Mohammed’s voice was filled with mirth, “and after when he was basically dragging your dead body to his car.” 

“Did you sleep in his room?” Amira asked, a playful smile on her lips.

“No,” Matteo pouted, “he kicked me out when I asked him to go to Jason and Sarah’s wedding with me this weekend.” 

“Sara?” Mohammed asked, looking at them both in confusion. “I thought that wedding wasn’t until September? And that she was also marrying Leonie who, I seem to recall, is a woman?” 

Amira and Matteo laughed and shook their heads, “No,” Matteo said, “this is another Sarah. She’s marrying a friend of mine named Jason.”

Mohammed nodded and said, “So, I’m guessing David said no?” 

“Well,” Matteo shrugged, “he said no but I’m pretty sure he’ll come.”

Amira was nodding, “Ya, he always shoots down an idea but gets back to you after a few days and does it, anyway. That’s how I got him to help me paint the house.”

“Yeah, so, it’s that or I go alone.” Matteo was finished with his peeling and had gotten up to discard of the skin and wash his hands, Amira following him on her way to the fridge.

“Why don’t you just _not_ go? I’m sure they’ll understand.” She suggested.

“The wedding is in 2 days, Amira. That would be such a dick move.”

“Yeah,” Amira retorted, “and you’re totally _not _ a dick.” Matteo playfully pushed her away from him and returned to his stool, rolling his eyes when he heard Mohammed snicker. 

Matteo felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulled it out to read the text on the screen, 

**David **

**Today 18:36**

**I’ll go to the wedding with you **

**Do I need to make a reservation at a hotel? **

The joy and relief he felt were almost embarrassing, he quickly typed out a message, a grin on his face.

**David **

** I KNEW IT **

** No, you don’t. I’ve got everything set up **

** I am forever in your debt, kind sir**

“It’s David,” Matteo told Amira and Mohammed, who were looking at him curiously, “he said he’ll come with me to the wedding.” They looked at each other and exchanged a smile, “You know it’s not like that,” Matteo said to them and Mohammed raised his hands in surrender.

“All we’re saying is that you haven’t been single for a while and you and David look good together.” His phone vibrated again, 

**David**

**18:40**

**Shut up **

**See you Saturday **

Matteo smiled down at his phone before locking it and placing it face down on the counter, “Why do you do this? You _ both _ know how David is with relationships.”

Amira waved his words away and said, “Whatever. You two look cute together.” And then she offered him a piece of baklava and the conversation moved on to desserts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I decided not to give David parents that didn't accept him. Instead, they're just divorced but still friendly and David and Laura are kinda awkward with them because it be like that sometimes with divorced parents.  
\- Next chapter should be up pretty soon! This one was running on and on so I split them up to give David and Matteo some background info.


	3. I'll Do The Wedding Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update since I had most of this written from the previous chapter! I really enjoyed writing this and figuring out who would say what and do what lol and I hope y'all enjoy it!
> 
> Also, this is my attempt at writing from both of their povs instead of making individual sections for them.

The rain was falling loudly outside, thunder rumbling along with it. At the wedding they’d just been to, the maid of honor had given the most awkward speech they’d ever heard. She’d question the proposal of her brother in law and wondered out loud, into the mic, if he’d only proposed to her because she was pregnant. Matteo was grateful that David helped him with his speech before Jonas’s wedding; he couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if he didn’t. 

Matteo was staring out the window as the people on the bus sang along to a song as loudly and happily as they could. Next to him, David was half out of his seat dancing and singing along with everyone else. David, like Matteo and the others on the bus, was wearing a raincoat over his suit thanks to the rain. Apparently, the rain was all that was missing at the reception, which was a little awkward after the awful speech, because now everyone was having a great time.

Matteo was relieved when David had texted him on Wednesday. He didn’t care if he was doing it out of pity as long as he had someone with him, especially if it was David who did most of the talking for the both of them and let him exist in peace when he could tell that Matteo didn’t want to talk. Maybe he didn’t understand what Matteo was dealing with when it came to his breakup or whatever, but he did understand when Matteo needed a moment or some sort of comfort and Matteo appreciated that.

“Peter took all the books when he moved out,” Matteo said suddenly to David, turning away from the window. “Like what? Like I don’t _read_?”

“You _don’t_ read,” David sat down and turned to him, his brows furrowing, but his lips lifting into a smile.

Matteo ignored him. “It’s like he doesn’t think I’m smart like _he’s_ the reader,” Matteo grumbled and David's eyebrows rose, but he couldn’t think of anything to say to him, he didn’t even think that Matteo wanted a response. 

David watched as he turned his head to look out the window again, but it wasn’t long before Matteo turned back to him, fire in his eyes. “And I didn’t tell you! He’s fucking somebody else.”

“He is?” David asked, not sure why he was even surprised. 

“Yeah! Chris from accounting. Mohammed told me.” Matteo rolled his eyes at the thought of Peter being with somebody else. Maybe he was doubting his feelings for Peter, but it still made him angry that he moved on so quickly while Matteo hadn’t.

“You should just fire him!” David said to him, mirroring his emotions. 

“I should!” 

“Do it! Put them _both_ on the streets!” David half-shouted and hit the back of the seat in front of them, shocking Matteo with his fervor. The person in the seat turned around to glare at them both and David quickly apologized, both going silent for a few seconds before looking at each other laughing.

“You promised me you’d introduce me to someone here,” David said when they’d both calmed down. “but I haven’t had a single meet-cute.” 

Matteo stared at him, “What is a meet-cute?” 

David sighed, “It’s like when two people meet each other and they instantly fall in love, like when you reach for the same cereal at the grocery store and it’s adorable!” Matteo’s brows came together and he frowned at David explaining, but David ignored him and kept on. “And then you’re like, ‘oh, my God. You like Lucky Charms, too? That’s amazing! I’m David, by the way.” 

“Wow. Okay.” Matteo said and he hoped David could tell how unimpressed he was by the explanation he just gave. Nevertheless, he began looking around, trying to find someone who would fit David’s ‘meet-cute’ nonsense. After years of knowing him, Matteo had an idea of the type of person David liked. The fact that David was pan was both an advantage and a disadvantage in his short search. 

“How about that guy over there? He looks like he likes cereal.”

David turned to look at whoever Matteo was nodding at. He was dancing and laughing with the crowd, just as David had been. He had curly hair, one of his ears were pierced, and he was very handsome. “Uh, yeah.” He said, turning back to Matteo.

“Yeah?” Matteo asked, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, I can work with that.” 

“Okay. Good luck!” Matteo said, and then he pushed David out of the seat and across the aisle to the guy he’d chosen. David should’ve known Matteo wouldn’t make anything easy. 

The people who noticed that David had fallen out of his seat gasped and asked if he was okay before laughing, probably assuming that he was drunk.

“Are you okay?” The guy asked David, pulling him up to sit beside him.

“Yeah, I’m good!” He sighed and smiled at him, “I’m sorry. It’s - that was my friend. He has a social disorder.” 

“I think I feel a connection happening!” Matteo yelled over the still singing crowd when he noticed David pointing towards him and the guy looking over, a grin on his face as he gave David an encouraging thumbs-up.

“He’s funny.” The guy said, but David shook his head, “No. No, no, no. He is not.” But he was smiling when he said it.

“I’m David.” He told him.

“I’m Aron,” He responded, a bright smile forming on his face.

“So, how do you know Jason and Sarah?”

Matteo’s attention returned to the rain outside, the smile on his face falling while everyone else sang around him. 

***

Matteo was in the bathroom, lost in his thoughts. David had hit it off with the guy and they’d separated when the bus dropped them off at their bed and breakfast. As luck would have it, the guy was staying at the same place so David went with him. Matteo wasn’t sure if David would be coming back to the room.

When they arrived this morning, they were greeted by a single bed in the room. David, who, upon seeing the one bed could not _believe_ that he did not question Matteo’s text about having ‘everything set up’ further, did not like that they would have to share a bed tonight. The confused “What the fuck?” that left his mouth made Matteo laugh, but he quickly stopped when he noticed David was glaring at him. “Sorry,” Matteo had apologized and then explained that it was too late to change the rooms so they’d just have to deal with it. David brought his hand to his face and unwillingly put his bag down, muttering about how he should’ve called himself and how he could not _believe_ he’d made such a rookie mistake.

The clicking of the door unlocking and locking snapped Matteo out of his thoughts. “Yo,” David called out into the seemingly empty room and began to remove his tie. He knew Matteo was somewhere in the small room since all the lights were on and the bed was a little messy where he was sure Matteo was lying on before.

“Hey!” Matteo responded from the bathroom, getting up and flushing the toilet and then going to the sink to wash his hands, “How did it go?” 

“Got a number, baby!” David said, sounding tired but content. 

“Yeah, baby! You’re welcome.” Matteo responded in a mocking tone, “Totally microwaved that hot meet-cute.”

“Yeah,” David said, removing his jacket. “I hate to say it, but, thank you.” 

Matteo poked his head out the bathroom and looked at him, “You know…” He said, pausing to pick up some socks. “We could actually do this...for all the weddings.” The idea had just occurred to him, but it was genius! Matteo knew it would take some convincing to get him on board, though. 

David was a little distracted as he looked for his pajamas in his bag, but Matteo’s nervous tone made him look up at him. “Do what?” David asked him, already suspicious.

“I take you, you take me.” Matteo explained. “Win-win.” 

“You’re suggesting doubling down on weddings? Like, on purpose?” David questioned, his eyes following Matteo as he moved from the bathroom door to the bed and watched as he sat to put his socks on.

“No,” Matteo responded, taking a second to put a sock on while he collected his thoughts. “I’m suggesting teaming up to take on the love marathon together! We could just, like, gang-bang it.” 

David’s eyebrows rose, “That’s 10 weddings between us. And I’ve got some rough ones coming up.” David didn’t tell Matteo about his father's wedding, and he wasn’t planning on it either but he didn’t know why. Turning away from Matteo, he went into the bathroom and changed into his pajamas, but he was still listening.

“Come on,” Matteo adjusted himself on the bed so he could lay on his stomach, “How else are you gonna find single people like that?” 

“You know, I actually do just fine without you body-checking me into someone.”

“David,” Matteo said, sitting up.

“Yeah?” David’s response was a little garbled now that he was brushing his teeth and toothpaste was in his mouth.

“David, this is actually a great idea.” He’d gotten up from the bed and was standing at the door now. “What just happened - that is _proof_ that I can close for you, man.” 

When David left the bathroom, he walked right into Matteo. “Oh, you’re right here.” His brow furrowed as he moved around Matteo, who mirrored his movements.

“Yeah,” Matteo said, stubbornly keeping in his way despite David’s attempts to go around him.

“Okay. A little bit of space?” David asked him, sighing loudly. 

“I’m gonna tee it up for you. I’ll be your wingman! I’ll set you up so you can do your thing, you know!” And Matteo began to do a weird movement with his hands, catching David’s attention while he still tried to move away.

“What is happening here?” 

“This is you getting pounded,” Matteo said, his tone and expression serious.

“Jesus Christ-” David scoffed and pushed Matteo away from him, who sprawled himself at the end of the bed while David put his suit away.

“You know, Matteo…” David began.

“What?” Matteo interrupted, but David ignored him.

“As enticing as that sounds, I’m not really looking to go around just making my way through the wedding party.” 

“I know,” Matteo responded, he knew how far David went with people. “I’m not saying that - not completely anyway. This is about exposure to relationship _opportunities_!”

“Move,” David said and Matteo got up so they could get ready for bed.

“Your wingmen are gone! What are you gonna do?” They both pulled the extra pillows off the bed, throwing them on the floor as Matteo continued, “Gonna hit the club solo after downing a bottle of wine in your apartment by yourself? That’s bleak, man!” He grimaced at David, who just stared at him. Matteo didn’t like that he was basically describing himself, since his wingman was gone too.

“Why do you want this so much?” David asked, tilting his head.

“Well, ‘cause...David, this is gonna be so much worse if we do it on our own.” Matteo sighed and looked around, “We’ll be stuck at singles’ tables and shelling out for hotel rooms to sleep in - alone.”

David shrugged his shoulders, “At least I’d have a bed to myself.” 

“Oh, my god. Come _on_.” Matteo groaned and rolled his eyes. 

“I’d rather not share.” 

“Whatever,” Matteo muttered, he’d heard enough of David’s grumbling about the room. He pulled the covers up on the side he’d agreed to sleep on and got in, David followed suit on his side. “You think I want to listen to your snoring? I think the years we spent together as roommates in college permanently damaged my hearing.” 

“I’m not going to any more weddings with you,” David said wryly.

“Nooo!” Matteo whined.

“Go to bed.” 

“But I’m not tired.” 

**

The sound of the rainfall and thunder outside was keeping Matteo from completely falling asleep, even though he usually enjoyed it when the weather was like this. Beside him, David was curled up on his side facing Matteo and fast asleep. Matteo turned back to look at him and after a second of contemplation, he began to inch his way closer to him. 

When Matteo’s back made contact with David’s body, David shifted, “What are you doing?” He asked sleepily, “You’re on my side.”

“I just want to cuddle,” Matteo responded just as sleepily.

“No. No cuddling.” David said and shifted his body away from him.

“What? You don’t like cuddling?”

“I love cuddling. I just don’t want to cuddle with you.”

Matteo moved back again, but David pushed him away separating them with his arm. “No. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Line.” He insisted and Matteo groaned in protest, but he ignored it. “Line of demarcation right here, right down the middle of the bed. You cross this line, you’re entering foreign airspace and you’ll be shot out of the sky.” David was awake now, his gaze fixed on Matteo. He didn’t understand what had gotten into him. 

“It’s just cuddling,” Matteo argued. 

“No. No way.” David said and shook his head. “What if you get a boner?” David asked him, he was teasing him, but also hoping he’d just give up and let him sleep.

Matteo scoffed, “I won’t get a boner from cuddling. Besides, if I got a boner, you’d never let me live that down.”

“Okay,” David nodded, “let’s say you don’t get a boner...what if your flaccid penis makes me feel ugly?” He raised his eyebrows at him, pursing his lips and trying to keep a straight face. 

Matteo stared at him for a second, taken aback by the question. “Are you always this big of a spaz in bed?” Matteo asked him, rolling his eyes.

“No,” David said, turning his body away from Matteo. “I just don’t want to cuddle with you, okay?”

“Cuddling doesn’t have to be sexual.” Matteo said, “It can be about feeling close to someone.” 

“I feel close enough to you,” David responded, “over here.”

Matteo reached over and cuddled David to him, “What if I’m the big spoon?”

But David was already pushing him away, “No. No. No.” He said as he pushed Matteo’s arm and leg off of him. “You’re not cradling my body. That’s horrifying.” 

Rolling his eyes, Matteo stared at the ceiling, “We’re literally the same height.” He said, but David ignored him. After a moment of listening to the rain outside, Matteo looked over at David again. “What about tickle scratching?” This had gotten David’s attention.

“What the fuck is tickle scratching?” He asked, turning his head to look at Matteo. 

“It’s where we like, we scratch each other’s back in a gentle way, but it’s not weird. It’s like...” Matteo moved his fingers demonstrating what it was while being sure to not touch David, but he trailed off and his fingers froze when he noticed David staring at him like he was wondering if something was wrong with him.

“_What?!”_

“Oh, god _damn it_!” Matteo half yelled and turned away from David, pulling the covers up to his chin and stubbornly closing his eyes. 

Feeling guilty, David was silent for a while before he sighed loudly and said, “Matteo.”

“What?” He grumbled.

“I’ll do the wedding thing with you.” 

“Really?” Matteo turned his head slightly at the words, his voice soft. 

“Yeah.” 

Matteo moved quickly, turning his body to face David and wrapping his arms and one leg around him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He said, pulling him tightly against his chest.

“Oh,” David groaned, deciding that there was no use in fighting back. “Okay.” 

“David?” Matteo said after a while, 

“Yeah?” 

“Can you feel my boner?”

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y’all so much for commenting! They really just make my day and truly make me excited to write more!


	4. His Type of Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- brief mention of David's top surgery and body insecurities at the beginning. I know very little when it comes to the subject of top surgery so I didn't write very much about it because I did not want to mess anything up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long! Hopefully, I won't take this long again but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

David and Matteo walked up the rusted steps of their motel, Matteo audibly making his disgust for the place known. He’d been complaining ever since David told him where they were staying, which was 2 days ago. When Matteo saw the small lobby the motel had, he couldn’t help looking around and cringing at the awful decorations, which was something he rarely took notice of, but honestly, it was like the place was stuck in the 80s. He knew that David also had his opinions on the place and just motels in general, but he was doing a much better job at hiding his expressions than Matteo was. He didn’t even react when sirens from police cars sounded off nearby, which was way too close for comfort in Matteo’s opinion.

When they got to the room, David inserted the key and pushed the door completely open. They stood there and looked around, David taking notice of the amount of dust that was disturbed just by opening the door while Matteo took notice of the scent. "_What _ is that smell?” Matteo asked as he followed David into the room, pushing his newly returned sunglasses into his hair. “I tried to warn you,” David said, moving over to one bed and setting his suitcase in front of it. “But look at this! It’s got 2 beds!”

David cleared his throat and began to speak in a terrible English accent, _ “My dear, look at this! Two whole beds for two human adults!”_ He dramatically pointed at the two twin beds next to each other but kept them separated enough for David’s liking, something that he believed made the motel smell worth it. 

“_Yeah_,” Matteo responded in an awful Australian accent, his eyes shining with amusement, “_Y__eah. Yeah, this chateau is marvelous. Davy-_” 

“What is this voice?” David asked, speaking in German again and staring at Matteo with a mix of amusement and confusion.

“It’s Australian,” Matteo responded, shrugging.

David grimaced and tilted his head, squinting at him, “Is it?” 

“_Is it_?” Matteo mocked him, tilting his head. “Yeah!” He responded, unperturbed. “_Why don’t you join me for some caviar on the veranda?_” He asked, returning to the accent and moving closer to David who pushes him away. 

Rolling his eyes, he returns to his normal voice. “Whatever. This place is fucking disgusting.” He grumbles before he lifts his suitcase and roughly puts it on the bed, disturbing the dust that was chilling there too. “I’m gonna change and go to the pool.”

David didn’t like that a shiver ran down his spine when Matteo mentioned the pool, he didn’t like that when they passed the pool before he felt uncomfortable. It had been years since he had his top surgery, but the insecurities of his youth returned to him whenever he dealt with specific things. 

“Okay.” He tried to make his response casual, to make Matteo feel like they were still in their little banter. But Matteo had known David for years and knew when something was bothering him.

Matteo turned around at the change of David’s tone, his brows coming together in concern. “Hey, what is it?” He asked as he walked around the bed to be closer to David. 

“Nothing, nothing,” David quickly responded, giving him a reassuring smile that Matteo noticed didn’t reach his eyes and shaking his head. Swimming was always something David enjoyed, and it was never a problem when he swam with his friends or his family because they all knew him and accepted him and wouldn’t look at him any differently when they saw the, albeit faded, scars on his chest. Despite not having any regrets about his body, he sometimes worried about what others would say and what they would think, even when he told himself that their thoughts and opinions didn’t matter.

Matteo had moved even closer to him, shifting into his view to force him to make eye contact with him. “Are you okay?” He asked him seriously, “If you don’t want to go swimming, I'll stay in the room with you and we can get some snacks and watch Twilight.” He maintained eye contact with David, giving him a teasing smile at the mention of their favorite movie.

Back in college, Matteo had noticed that David liked vampires and saw that he would draw himself as one too. He’d planned on them watching the movie sober but then one night they’d stumbled into their room after a party completely drunk and wide awake. But when Matteo showed David the movie they were going to watch, David stared at him like something was wrong with him.

“_What?_” Matteo asked. 

“_Twilight? Really?_” David scoffed.

“_Yeah? Don’t you like vampires?_” Matteo was confused and his drunken brain didn’t like the look David was giving him. Was he offended? 

“_Sparkly vampires?_” David asked, rolling his eyes. “_I would never._” 

_"You really shouldn’t judge something before you watch it,_” Matteo retorted, pressing the button to play the movie. He knew nothing about Twilight but he wasn’t going to tell David that. What a snob! He would make sure he liked the movie now, just to spite him. 

But then they both ended up enjoying the first one and watched the rest of them until they’d fallen asleep, leaning on each other. 

Now, David grinned at him and shook his head, “No, I’m good. I’ll go swimming! It’s too nice outside for anything else.” David pulled his shirt over his head to show him he was actually okay, and a wide smile appeared on Matteo’s face and he nodded, “Alright!” He said and lightly punched David’s shoulder before he moved away to look for his shorts. 

**

Once they were outside, Matteo and David separated. David was excited to be in the pool, but Matteo was more interested in lying out under the sun. He’d taken responsibility for the bag David insisted on bringing down with them and placed it beside him in the empty lounge chair. Matteo brought a book with him and was lightly skimming through it, determined to read more as a way to show that he _was_ a reader, but David had only laughed when Matteo pulled it out. 

When they got there, they noticed there were three other people at the pool and Matteo wondered if David was gonna turn back around, but then David jumped into the pool and began to swim to the deep end. Matteo couldn’t help but smile as he watched him. 

Two women, one pregnant and one not, were lounging in the other chairs, talking while watching a child in the pool float around. Now and then, the pregnant woman would curse and call out to the child who had apparently taken an interest in David.

David was resting against the side of the pool, slowly kicking his feet as he lifted his head to face the sun, taking in its warmth. He was trying very hard to ignore the child that was floating just a bit too close to him and who insisted on staring at him through his swimming goggles.

“Hey, man,” David said awkwardly when he opened his eyes and noticed that the boy was moving closer to him. He reached out and softly pushed the kid away from him. “Okay, okay,” David said, trying not to panic when he felt the boy resist. 

“Joshua!” The pregnant woman called, “Joshua, will you not do that, please? You freak people out when you do that.” She said the words as if she’s had to say them often, and Matteo snuck a glance at David, who probably couldn’t tell that he was being watched by him thanks to the sunglasses, and almost laughed at how uncomfortable David looked. The child had turned around to look at his mother, and Matteo watched as David took the opportunity to push the kid further away from him, looking relieved when he didn’t turn back. 

“That little fucker’s gonna kill someone someday. I just know it!” The woman said quietly to the other as she watched her son swim away from David, “You know, the other day, he asked me for my teeth so he could eat them.” 

Matteo couldn’t help but laugh at her words, imagining the child asking his mother for his teeth. They were quiet now, both looking over at him as he shook his head apologetically, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh.” He said holding back another in at being caught.

“No, it’s fine.” The mother responded, slowly shaking her head. “I do. I have a demon child.” Matteo laughed again. “I’m Ellie, by the way.” The mother said and Matteo nodded, “This is Maggie.” She gestured at the woman next to her.

“Hey,” He gave a small wave, “I’m Matteo.”

“You here for the wedding?” Ellie asked and Matteo nodded, “Yeah.”

“You friends with Paul or Marissa?” Maggie asked. 

“Uh, neither,” Matteo responded, deciding that he no longer needed his book now that he was talking to someone and pushing it into David’s bag. “I’m that guy’s plus one.” He explained, pointing at David.

When Matteo and the women turned their attention his way, they saw David’s imitation of a water fountain and watched as he spits water out of his mouth and into the pool, completely unaware that he had an audience.

“Oh,” Ellie said, looking over at Matteo and frowning when she saw that Matteo was smiling at David like it wasn’t gross that he had pool water in his mouth. “So you two are together, huh?” She asked, leaning towards him, clearly wanting information. 

Matteo began to nod his head, still looking at David and noticing how his olive skin glowed under the sun, and not really understanding that she was talking about them being _together _together until she spoke again, “He’s so hot! You’re lucky you get to smash that.”

Ellie sighed, turning to look at Maggie, who was still looking at David but had briefly looked away to hit her arm for saying such an intimate thing. “You’ll have to excuse my sister,” Maggie said, turning to look at Matteo, “She tends to poke her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Matteo looked away from David when Maggie spoke to him, and quickly shook his head, “Ah, don’t worry about it.” He said, “But, god no, David and I are _ not _together.”

“Why not?” Maggie asked almost immediately.

“Well, ‘cause David doesn’t date people. He dates ideas.” Matteo shook his head in disgust at the thought, “And trust me, I’m not his type of idea. Blegh!” 

“Well, what _ is _ his type of idea?” She asked, and Matteo sat up as he pushed his sunglasses into his hair. 

“Why? Are you interested?” He asked her, a smirk on his lips.

“I haven’t talked to him, but he’s cute,” Maggie confessed, looking at David again who was still ignoring them but was now kicking at the water, splashing anything in its immediate vicinity.

“Well, I can totally hook that shit up,” Matteo responded. He was glad that the amount of work he had to do to complete his promise to David was zero. 

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah! For sure.”

“Well, well, well,” a voice said, “so this is where the party’s at.” Matteo turned his head and saw a tall guy with curly hair, sunglasses covering his eyes with a beer in his hand, and his shirt completely unbuttoned, making his way toward them. He had a smile on his face and it was clear that his attention was on Matteo despite his dark shades.

“This is our idiot cousin Trevor,” Ellie said as a form of introduction, and Trevor took a sip of his beer.

“Well, idiots relative, but thank you.” He responded, grinning at Matteo who nodded but said nothing. 

“Okay, yeah, don’t you have some groomsman shit you need to take care of?” Ellie asked him, clearly annoyed by his presence. 

“I still have an hour before I have to do any of that, thanks mom,” He sarcastically responded before he turned to Matteo and put his hand out, “Hi,” He said, “I’m Trevor.” His tone was brighter now, interested. 

“Oh, hi.” Matteo turned his attention to Trevor and shook his hand, smiling politely, “I’m Matteo.”

Trevor’s grin didn’t leave his face as he stared at Matteo, who stared back at him but confused as to why he was standing there like he was expecting something. But then he remembered the bag next to him and quickly picked it up and put it on the ground next to his chair instead. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Matteo said cheekily, “Did you wanna sit?” 

Trevor laughed and shook his head as he moved to sit beside Matteo, “No, no, I could just stand here awkwardly if you prefer your bag to sit there.” 

David hadn’t been paying attention to Matteo’s conversation with the women, but he looked up when a new voice had appeared. When he noticed that there was nothing particularly special about him, he’d gone back to ignoring them. But something in the way Matteo laughed made David turn to look at them again.

“You _are _an idiot,” Matteo chuckled and David watched as he looked away, almost shyly.

“Just a bit.” Trevor responded, “So, what’s going on?” He asked Matteo, who boldly reached over and took his beer can out of his hand and took a sip, apparently deciding he wasn’t gonna be shy. 

“Oh, okay,” Trevor said, obviously pleased by Matteo’s sudden boldness and letting him keep the can.

David looked Trevor over, a frown on his lips as he heard him ask Matteo if he was gonna dance tonight. His eyes stayed on them for a few more seconds before David looked away, still frowning.

**

“_It has not been an easy ride and I know that. And I know what I’ve put you through. And I know how I can be. I can be tough. But you’re always there...always ready to catch me when I fall._” 

“It’s so fucking hot,” Matteo whispered to David as they both kept their eyes forward while listening to the groom struggle to hold back tears while he spoke his vows to his already crying bride. Paul and Marissa had decided to have their wedding outside, much to Matteo’s annoyance. He was sure he wasn’t the only one that was annoyed, though. Some guests, like David and Matteo, had brought their sunglasses with them. Most did not and were squinting to keep the sun out of their eyes. 

Matteo sighed, earlier he was more than happy to sunbathe, where the option of jumping in the pool when he wanted to cool down was right in front of him, but this was just not it. He'd chosen to wear a black suit but regretted it almost immediately after sitting down. David's suit was like his but for some reason, David was cool as a cucumber.

“_Always my best friend,_” Paul said to her, his voice breaking and his hands tightly holding onto hers. David was watching the scene with a fond smile on his face but sighed when he heard Matteo’s words. He agreed, but he didn't want to talk about it right now. 

“I need to pee,” Matteo said when David ignored him and David glanced at him and saw that he was looking around at the other guests with a frown on his lips. 

“_And if we can just sit on the couch and eat Chinese food and watch The Great British Bake Off” for the rest of our lives I would be happy..._”

“I’m gonna make a run for it,” Matteo announced before pushing himself out of his seat but he was quickly stopped by David. “No. Wait, wait, wait. I think we’re nearing the end.” He responded, continuing to hold on to Matteo’s arm as Matteo turned to glare at him.

“_...because we’re gonna raise beautiful babies!_” Paul was full-on crying now. 

“He’s fucking talking about babies!” Matteo whispered angrily, “I’m literally gonna piss myself.” 

David had a sympathetic frown on his lips, and his brows were furrowed as he looked at Matteo and then back at the altar. He opened his mouth to tell him to stay again but the woman sitting beside him spoke first, “Can you tell your boyfriend to keep it down?” She asked, clearly annoyed. 

David and Matteo turned their attention to her, “I’m sorry,” David retorted, matching her tone. “But he’s _literally_ gonna piss himself.” 

“And I’m not his boyfriend!” Matteo added, “That’s disgusting and presumptuous!” 

The woman scoffed and turned her attention back to the scene upfront, David and Matteo doing the same. Matteo was on the edge of his seat, bouncing his leg impatiently as he tried to pay attention, preparing to stand as soon as he could. 

“_May the blessings of life and the joy of love be your constant companion. You may now seal your union with a kiss._”

Everyone stood up, Matteo first, and applauded the kissing couple and Matteo was grateful for the opportunity to get away. He moved around the people that were sitting beside them, muttering a quick, “Excuse me,” only stopping when he recognized the person that was in the row behind them. 

“Ah! David, this is Maggie. She’s into you, okay? Have fun! Don’t fuck it up.” And David watched as he ran across the grassy field, stumbling a few times, sighing at Matteo’s remarkable ability to put him in awkward situations.

Maggie’s mouth was slightly opened at Matteo’s abrupt introduction but she quickly shut it when she noticed David was looking at her, his brows pulled together as he looked away from Matteo’s retreating figure. “That was...unexpected,” Maggie said, moving over to Matteo’s empty seat. “Yeah.” He sighed, “He does that.” David smiled at her and tilted his head, “Uh, do you want to get a beer?” He asked, and she nodded. “Yeah. I would love to...maybe just let them finish up first?” She suggested, gesturing at the bridesmaids and groomsmen walking away from the altar. 

“Of course, yeah!” David said, mentally kicking himself. “Great job, guys!” He called out to them, clapping along with everyone else.

**

When Matteo and David first became roommates, they didn’t really speak to each other except for the occasional hello. Matteo spent most of his time with Jonas and the boys so he only saw David when he returned to his dorm to sleep - if he even did that. 

They didn’t have a proper conversation until they saw each other at an LGBTQ+ club meeting that Jonas had encouraged Matteo to go so he could maybe meet someone and, unbeknownst to Matteo, Mohammed had encouraged David to go there for the same reason. 

Once they noticed each other was there, Matteo had walked up to David, and they had a small conversation that was mostly filled with them taking a sip of their drink and looking around. But, none of them made a move to speak to someone else. Matteo had smiled at David and reintroduced himself, since the first time it was awkward because Matteo had found it difficult to look at him and David had been on edge all day from moving. “I’m Matteo, I’m gay.” He reached his hand out for David to shake. It had been very recent that Matteo became comfortable telling his sexuality so casually, but it felt good to say especially when he knew he was in a safe space.

David smiled, but he looked wary, “Nice to meet you, Matteo. I’m David, I’m pan...” he paused and inhaled before continuing, “and trans.” He reached out to take Matteo’s hand, giving it a nervous shake before pulling his away, waiting to see Matteo’s reaction to the latter. It wouldn't matter to David if Matteo's reaction wasn't ideal, but it would suck to live with someone who didn't accept you. They'd probably just continue to live the way they were living now, though. 

But Matteo just smiled softly and nodded, “Nice to meet you too, David. Do people make a lot of jokes about pandas because you’re pan?”

After that, Matteo was in the room more. David would come back from his classes and find Matteo there watching a movie or playing a game. They didn’t talk as much, but they did exist much more relaxed around each other. Matteo would ask David about his day and his classes, and David would do the same. A few weeks later, they discovered that they knew most of the same people when both of them had been invited to the same party but by different people. Matteo had gone to meet up with Jonas and the boys and Hanna and the girls, David had left earlier to find Mohammed. 

When Amira saw Mohammed, she went over to him to give him a hug and Matteo was right behind her, excited to greet his friend he hadn’t seen in a while. It was then that he saw David hanging out with Essam and Omar, Amira’s two brothers. Although it didn’t seem like Amira was happy her youngest brother was at a college party, she ignored him and walked away with Mohammed, presumably to get drinks, but probably not. After greeting Essam and Omar, Matteo made his way over to David, who seemed just as surprised to see him but not disappointed.

Matteo had learned a few things about David that night, about his family and his sister and how he knew the Mazzouk’s. And that David was fucking awful at flip cup.

*

The wedding reception was boring, even for the actual married couple. The best man’s speech was horrendous and once again Matteo had been grateful for David. This one had stuttered through his speech, constantly dropping his notes and sweating profusely. It was painful to watch but Matteo and David kept side-eyeing each other and trying very hard not to laugh.

It was nearing midnight when almost everyone had left, heading to the motel that a majority of them were staying at until tomorrow. David and Matteo weren’t sure whose room it was that they were in, but they’d been drawn to it with the promise of booze and music. Even though David liked to rise early and go for a run, he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get someplace with Maggie. Matteo, on the other hand, was just interested in the drinks. Besides, it’s not like either of them would get any sleep with a party happening just a few doors down. 

“Everybody, on your cups!” Paul yelled, standing beside his laughing wife. They’d all lined up, eager to play the game. Everyone except Matteo, who knew that with David on his side of the table, there was no way they’d win. He couldn’t believe that he was paired with him, the absolute worst person to be with when you’re both competitive and drunk. 

“Let’s go! Let’s go! Ready! Go!”

David had been looking over at Matteo every time he messed up, apologizing for not being good at the game but now he was turning to Maggie. Matteo wasn’t sure when Maggie had shown up, but when he looked over, she’d also join in on the game and was on their team. It was obvious that she was more interested in David and found his losing cute, constantly laughing with him whenever he messed up as opposed to Matteo who cursed every time. 

“It’s okay,” Maggie was saying, laughing and rubbing David’s shoulder when the cup had fallen over for the third time. David’s cheeks were red, and he was grinning sheepishly at her, ignoring Matteo’s glares as the other team managed to not mess up. He was glad that his ability to not play this game was endearing to her. 

The lights were blinking and the bass of the music shook the windows, everyone was yelling over each other to get someone’s attention and it was making it hard to concentrate on what was happening at the table. It was Matteo’s turn now and he could feel David and Maggie’s and everyone’s eyes on him, “Don’t look at me!” Matteo shouted at David over the music, his frustration concealed by the way his voice squeaked when he yelled. 

He didn’t know what it was, but he was getting much more upset than he usually did when he lost at these games. He’d yelled at his opponents multiple times throughout the night and while they all laughed and had fun, he didn’t understand why he wasn’t.

He flipped the hat that he was wearing, unsure of when he’d put it on his head but glad that it was keeping his hair out of his face, and returned his attention to the cup and quickly swallowed what was in it, concentrating as he moved to flip it. 

“Yes!” Matteo yelled, clapping his hands together and grinning over at David but David’s eyes were on Maggie and they were laughing together. 

It didn’t matter, they’d lost the game anyway. 

*

“I’m just gonna say it,” Matteo slurred, a teasing smile on his lips. “You look like someone who would do okay on ‘Survivor’.” He was sitting on the edge of one of the twin beds across Trevor now, who had found a metal chair to sit in. 

David had gone outside with Maggie and Matteo had gone searching for Trevor, wanting the attention he knew he’d get from him. “Really?” He asked, grinning at Matteo, confused but apparently with it.

“Mmhmm,” 

“Like, you think I’d win?” 

“You’re good looking enough to get far,” Matteo said, looking him over and remembering his bare chest from earlier on in the day. “But not good looking enough to win.”

“What does good looking have to do with ‘Survivor’?”

“You gotta be built,” Matteo explained, “You got to be fuckin’-” he adjusted himself and puffed his chest out to visually explain what he meant, and widened his eyes to appear intimidating, “and survive.” Trevor laughed and nodded, “Sure, okay.” 

On the balcony, David was standing next to Maggie. His arm was pressed against hers as they looked over the pool and at the highway beyond it. They’d been discussing how awful David was at the game, still laughing about it.

“The question is - how are you so bad?” Maggie laughed and turned to look at David, waiting for his response.

“It was - okay.” David could feel his face getting hot, “Look, okay! I’m bad at flip cup.” He laughed, “I’m saying it, I’m admitting it. I’m bad at flip cup!” 

Maggie turned her face towards the pool and yelled, “He’s bad at flip cup!”

“I’m bad at flip cup!” David repeated, yelling it across the motel grounds. They both laughed and turned back to look at each other, their eyes meeting.

“Truth or Dare?” David asked when none of them looked away from each other.

Maggie chuckled, “Truth.”

“Okay, I _ truth _ you to close your eyes.” David knew he was being cringey, but he’d been that way all night and she didn’t seem to mind, in fact, she seemed to enjoy it. 

Maggie watched him for a few seconds, a smile on her lips as she appeared to think it over. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she closed her eyes and David was glad for it. 

She was already leaning in when David did and their lips met softly in the middle.

***

Matteo was frowning as he poked at his breakfast. They were at a diner, both a little hungover from the night before. Matteo more than David, who’d gotten back to their room very early in the morning and went for a swim before they left.

When they walked in, Matteo noticed that the place had a special for pasta. He’d been pleasantly surprised to see that pasta was an option for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and was quick to order it, much to David’s disgust. 

Ignoring David, who was watching him like he was watching a car crash he couldn’t look away from, he twirled the pasta around his fork and brought it to his mouth, chewing a few times before he spoke with his mouth full, “This is bad.”

“Oh, really?” David asked, “The _ diner _pasta wasn’t a winner?” The sarcasm was strong in his tone. “What a shocker!”

“How was Maggie?” Matteo asked him, ignoring his smart ass response and shoving more pasta in his mouth. He didn’t want to know, but he was definitely too hungover to argue with David right now, so why not?

David took a sip of his drink, his brows coming together, looking suspicious. “Um…she was good.” He began, “Yeah, you know, she was...she was really - yeah. She was cool.” He’d been looking at anything except for Matteo, eyes darting to the cars on the road and back to his food. He was trying so hard to be casual it was hilarious. And pathetic. 

“Wow,” Matteo deadpanned, and when David finally looked at him, his expression matched. “You must really like her!” He was absolutely amused by the situation because he _knew _ something had happened when he returned this morning. David had been planning to sleep in, he'd even told Matteo he would since they would be drinking and he would most likely end up staying with Maggie.

“I don’t know. I just, um..” David paused, trying to find the right words. “I don’t think we have that long-term potential,” Shrugging, he added, “but I had fun with her.”

“You spent one night with her. _ How _could you possibly know what kind of potential you have?” Matteo couldn’t hide the incredulous look he now had on his face. Long-term potential? What the fuck?

“Matteo,” David sighed and sat up straighter, “when you’ve been single for as long as I have, you know what you want. And when you know what you want, you can cut bait way quicker.” 

“Yeah, but you don’t know what you want.” Matteo rolled his eyes and relaxed into the diner seat, he couldn’t eat and listen to this. “You have the _ worst _ standards.”

“I have realistic standards.” David quickly rebutted. 

Matteo tilted his head, frowning. “I do!” David insisted. He hoped that Matteo would drop the subject, change it to something else. He’d already had this conversation with Laura and Mohammed, even Abdi had commented on David’s relationship standards. 

But, Matteo was fully into this conversation now. “What about Jess Ramsey?”

David rolled his eyes, “I would date her, but she’s engaged.”

“Why do you always say her first and last name like some sort of serial killer?” Matteo asked, momentarily distracted. 

“She’s a firsty-lasty,” David explained like it was obvious. When Matteo raised his eyebrows and frowned, he continued, “It’s the same thing with you. You’re _ Matteo Florenzi_. I think it’s cool.”

“So, you’re jealous that you’re not a firsty-lasty? I see. _ David Schreibner_.” Matteo rolled his eyes, he thought David’s names fit well together but whatever. He shook his head and leaned forward, returning to the previous conversation. 

“Alright, fine. Let’s pretend, for the sake of this argument, _ Jess Ramsey _gets divorced tomorrow. She shows up on your doorstep, and she’s like,” He clears his throat and does an impression of Jess that is him just groaning, “_Oh, my God, David! Let’s be together! Ungh!_” 

David’s eyes widen with amusement, “That’s not an impression of anything.”

Matteo smirked but ignored him, “You wouldn’t last two weeks. You would find something wrong with her, and then you would bail.” 

“That is not true.” 

“Yes, it is! It’s so true!” Matteo argued, laughing at David shaking his head in denial.

“You don’t know that. I’m just trying to make sure the person I end up with is right. I’m trying to find, you know..”

“Do not say ‘the one’,” Matteo warns.

“...the one.” 

“Oh, my God. You’re just…” An incredulous laugh escaped Matteo, “so stupid.”

David shrugged, “I don’t think I am.”

“You don’t have the right to be picky,” Matteo said, shaking his head.

“Wow. Thank you so much, Matteo.” David responded coldly. He knew Matteo didn’t mean that in the way he thought and it seemed like he realized that what he said could be taken the wrong way and he quickly spoke up.

“And by that, I mean that you’re needy as hell and you’re a hopeless romantic who overthinks everything.”

David frowned and after taking a second to think, he decided it was Matteo’s time in the hot seat. “And what about _whatshisname_? Trevor?” He questioned.

“Oh, yeah. Nothing happened.” Matteo relaxed into the seat again, “I just got his number.” he shrugged.

“Okay?” David prompted.

“I gotta do a little personal maintenance first,” Matteo explained, wiggling his brows at David. 

“Yeah. Sure.” David responded. This wasn’t the conversation he was hoping for. 

“You know what I’m saying?” Matteo grinned mischievously at him, “Got to run the raccoons…” he continued, wiggling his fingers. “Out of the trash can!”

“I know - Matteo, I know.” 

“Maybe I’ll mow the back lawn,” He was pretending to mow now and shrugged as if he was thinking about it and then frowned, seriously considering it, but then shook his head at David. 

“I got it, Matteo,” David rolled his eyes, “You know that these are just excuses.” he quickly added, hoping he wouldn't say anything about his personal _that _stuff.

“They’re not excuses,” Matteo sighed, annoyed that his little joke didn’t distract David from this Trevor talk. “I’m not in the mood to go on dates right now.” He picked up his fork, ready to eat, “That’s it.” 

“Are you gonna spend your life moping about Peter?” David asked.

“I’m not moping about Peter,” Matteo responded. “Fuck! What the - it’s just,” Throwing his fork down a little too forcefully, Matteo placed his head in his hands and took a deep breath before looking up at David, “It takes me a while to open up to people, and I just don’t want to give anyone that time right now. Okay?” 

David stared at Matteo for a few seconds and Matteo hoped that that meant he felt bad about bringing up his ex, who was confusing him now because he’d begun to message Matteo again.

But David shook his head, amused. “How do you not think that you’re moping about Peter? Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve just been like,” He paused and cleared his throat before imitating Matteo by loudly wailing in a very deep voice, “_Peter! Peter!_”

“I hate it when you do my voice. I literally hate it.” 

“_Peter!_” David wailed, his voice breaking.

“Stop saying it so loud!” Matteo pleaded, feeling his face heating up, “Someone here can know who you’re talking about!”

David paused, thinking it over before he turned in his seat and said to everyone, “Does anyone here know Peter?”

“Shut the _ fuck up!_” Matteo half yelled and reached over to pull David down when he began to stand up. David, cheeks red and eyes bright, laughed and Matteo rolled his eyes but smiled before they both went back to eating their breakfast.


	5. You Made It Weird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- well, my thing about not posting late was proven to be a LIE. I'm sorry this is coming so late but the stuff that happens in this chapter is what made me want to write this fic in the first place and I really went through it on some parts lol 
> 
> \- I hope y'all enjoy this chapter! I really loved writing it despite the stress it caused me lol  
this chapter is a little nsfw sooooo you've been warned!
> 
> \- this chapter is long and I did think about breaking it up but it didn't feel right to me. I think we're about halfway through this fic, though! 
> 
> \- I also do wanna say a thank you to my best friend Renee for reading all the versions I sent her while I freaked out about this! Renee girl, if you see this, thank you and I love you lol and I hope you're prepared for this definitely happening again!

In the following couple of weeks, Matteo and David were in constant contact. None of them were sure what had caused them to want to talk to each other so much, but neither of them complained. It felt like they were in college again when they were just getting to know each other and spending as much time just lounging or getting high and falling asleep. They’d even met up for lunch a couple of times and it was nice.

When Matteo had seen David drive up, he couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face and although Matteo couldn’t see it, David couldn’t help his smile either. It was the middle of July now and almost a month had gone by since they’d started tag-teaming their weddings. Although David was a little annoyed with Matteo because he’d forgotten to make a reservation for them, the ride to the wedding location wasn’t tense. Once they’d gotten there, though, David turned to Matteo.

“So what’s your plan? What if they don’t have a room?” He challenged with a smirk on his lips. 

“I’ll just use my Florenzi charm,” Matteo responded, winking at him as he strutted inside the cabin-like building.

But when they got inside, they couldn’t find anyone at the desk. They looked at each other and shrugged before they both grabbed a brochure to look over what the place offered to pass the time until someone showed up. 

“What is Bungie dogging?” Matteo asked, confused by literally the first option. They were sitting across from each other now, both frowning at the paper in their hands.

“I don’t wanna know what that is.” 

“Oh look! _ Breakfast _with Steve!” Matteo exclaimed, “Yeah,” David scoffed, “and it’s $14 so it must be a whole event.” If he was alone, this place would’ve been 10 times more creepy.

“Oh, my god! People!” A voice said, coming up from some stairs behind David and they both turned to look at the man.

“Hi!” Matteo said, immediately followed by David's confused, “Hi?” They looked at each other, silently wondering if they were going to get murdered by this strange man. 

“Welcome to the Bumble Bear Lodge!” He exclaimed, a big smile on his face.

“You work here? Okay!” The relief was clear in Matteo’s voice as he stood up and grabbed his suitcase to go to the desk. 

“Work here, live here,” The guy said as he walked around the desk to take a seat. 

“Great!” David said, following behind Matteo. He felt it was better that they stayed close to each other. 

“It’s good to see some human faces!”

“Yes!” Matteo said and then he noticed the name clipped on his shirt, “Oh! You’re Steve! You -” Matteo lifted his brochure, “there’s the breakfast with you.”

Steve grinned and nodded, “That’s me. I’m famous around here.”

“Fantastic,” David said, and they both laughed. 

“Do you happen to have a reservation?” Steve asked, and David was quick to answer. “No, we don’t, actually, because _ someone _forgot to book the hotel room this weekend.”

“I didn’t forget. I was distracted when I made the reservation.” Matteo protested, rolling his eyes.

“Why were you distracted?” David raised his eyebrows at him but Matteo ignored him and spoke to Steve instead, “Do you have any rooms available?” 

Steve turned seriously to his computer and clicked a few keys before turning to them and excitedly said, “Yes!”

“Ah! See? It works out. It all works out.” Matteo smiled smugly at David who just rolled his eyes. 

“We’ve got one of our, uh, Brown Bear rooms which has two twin beds, or the Grizzly Suite which is completely orange and has a vibrating king-size bed.”

David and Matteo turned to look at each other, Matteo frowning and wondering to himself if the man was just messing with them. David shrugged, just as confused. 

“I think Brown Bear…” David began and Matteo nodded, “The Brown Bear Room..sounds good. Yeah.” 

“Okay!” Steve said and Matteo pulled out his card to pay, smirking at David when his eyebrows rose in surprise. 

As Steve entered the payment, he continued to speak to them. “So, what brings you guys out here?”

“We’re just here for a wedding,” David explained, Matteo was leaning on the table, resting his head on his arms and watching them speak. 

“God, I love weddings,” Steve said, sighing longingly. “I’m trying to get married myself.” He added.

“Have you asked your girlfriend?” David asked. “Or boyfriend?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Steve stated confidently, still smiling despite the weirdness of it all. 

“Okay...yeah, okay,” David muttered as he leaned against the counter himself, glancing at Matteo in confusion. 

“I’ve just been doing the app life, you know.” He paused and the smile finally wavered, “It’s hard going though, a lot of people are just...you know.” 

“You should probably stay away from those apps, man,” Matteo told him as he straightened up, his brows coming together in sympathy but also like, in concern for the other people on the dating apps. Steve seemed like a nice person but he was giving off creepy vibes.

“Yeah,” David agreed, as if he could read his mind. “they kinda take the romance out of everything.”

“Totally. You don’t want robots taking over your love life,” Matteo continued. “You gotta get out there! Go out in the wild!”

“Go to a bar,” David offered, “there’s a lot of interesting people.” Matteo nodded in agreement. 

Steve stared at them for a second, considering their advice, before mimicking his head exploding, the smile returning to his face. “Wow,” He breathed before chuckling. “Thank you, guys.” He said, “I have a lot to think about.” A frown suddenly appeared on his lips and he went quiet, staring out at the empty lobby, at nothing. 

Matteo and David exchanged glances as the seconds passed and when they realized that Steve had gotten lost in his thoughts, David leaned forward, “Hey Steve, could we get a room key?”

“Oh yeah, sorry!” He handed them the key, “Just take a right, a left, a right, another right, and you’ll be right there!”

Matteo frowned and looked at David, “Did you get that?”

David sighed, “It says 304.” 

“Enjoy, thank you again for coming! Anything you need, my name’s Steve.” 

“We’ll just call up Steve,” Matteo said and turned to David, “Um,”

“Thank you,” David said, and he pulled Matteo along with him. 

“Don’t say anything until we get to the room,” David quietly said to him, stopping only to push the handle of his suitcase down so he could pick it up while they walked down the stairs. Matteo just rolled his own behind him. 

“Okay but we’re getting breakfast with Steve tomorrow.” David sighed loudly and ignored him.

***

“I still can’t believe you took the Communion.” Matteo and David were at the reception, David completely floored by Matteo’s boldness during the ceremony. It had been a nice service and so far the reception wasn’t as cringe as the others they’d been to. The Best Man’s speech was actually funny and the man that was telling it didn’t stutter his entire way through or forget what he had to stay. 

“What? Why? I wanted the cracker.” Matteo just shrugged. He wondered briefly if his mother would find what he did funny or if she would’ve grabbed him by his arm and held on until everyone had finished. Either way, he was sure she would laugh at some point. Like David did. 

There was a nice little waterfall where the reception was being held and Matteo knew that David was itching to draw it - he’d taken several pictures of it already, much to Matteo’s amusement. There was also a beautiful tree in the middle of the patio, lights hanging from it and adding to the magical feeling the waterfall presented and little pink tables all around where people could stand around and admire the view. But they’d been leaning against the wooden rail, taking in the waterfall's view until they were politely asked to move so they could take wedding photos. So, they got some drinks.

Now, the groom and his groomsmen were standing in front of the waterfall, all dressed in matching off-white and teal suits, holding onto each other and grinning at the cameraman.

“Oh, my God. Look at this.” David said when they returned, his voice filled with amusement. 

“Mm,” Matteo said in response. They placed their drinks on a table and leaned against it to watch. Currently, the groom and one of his groomsmen were shaking hands.

“Here we go,” David said, preparing himself. 

“Oh, baby!” Matteo said in anticipation, frowning at the scene, but excited to hear what David would come up with.

“Mm. Bully.” David began, deepening his voice. He went on when he heard Matteo laugh, voice still deep. “Yes, Johnson, I’m very happy we could sign this merger today.”

“Me too, Mr. Phillips. I’m very excited to commit fraud with you!” Matteo joined in, deepening his voice, his face close to David’s as they mocked them, both laughing.

“Here we go,” The cameraman said, encouraging the groomsmen as they shifted around again.

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” David said as he watched them walk over to the rails and began to strut together towards the camera, their expressions serious.

“Hi.” Matteo began this time, choosing a Swedish accent. “We are Umlaut. We are the new Swedish boy band sensation.” 

“Yes, our new hit single, ‘My Stepdad’s House,’ is climbing the charts.” David continued in the same accent. Matteo was laughing as he listened to David, who kept in character until they watched one man lay down on the ground and another climb over him and squatted. 

“Whaaat is this?” David asked, tilting his head to try to understand what they were trying to do. “What is this?” Matteo repeated, the frown deepening when they all began to move their hips to some unheard beat.

“What?” 

“I have no idea what’s going on,” Matteo responded.

As the night went on, the twinkling lights lit the patio they were on and the music slowed down a bit to add to the magical mood that the waterfall, the big tree, and lights were creating. Right now a Hozier song was softly playing and Matteo and David were swaying along to it.

“Alright,” Matteo said, his left hand on David’s shoulder and the other in his hand. 

“What have we got?” David asked, his hand resting on Matteo’s lower back. 

“I see cuties, cuties everywhere.” He responded, looking around the room as if he was a spy on a mission. 

“Yeah? Let’s see.” David moved them so he could see what Matteo was looking at, “Red dress with the boots.” Matteo said as he watched David’s reaction. 

“Mm, no.” David shook his head and frowned, “She looks mean.”

“What? She just looks serious. That doesn’t mean mean.” David would not make this easy for Matteo. 

“It means mean,” David shook his head again before looking around himself. “Um, let’s see... okay! What about the green suit with the glasses?” 

“Where? Rotate.”

“Okay.” David shifted them again and Matteo looked for the person David had mentioned and scoffed. 

“Him? Geez.” He looked the man over, wondering his age. “God, you like them fresh and young.” 

“What -,” David stammered, turning to look at the guy again. “He’s normal age.”

Matteo chuckled as he looked into his brown eyes, “David, I can hear the sirens coming for you.”

“Fuck off,” David responded, rolling his eyes. They went quiet as they both looked around again, “Um…okay. Bridesmaid with the braid.” He said to Matteo.

“You’re gonna have to spin me out,” Matteo informed him. “Okay,” And while they both knew he didn’t need to be spun out, after a quick count down, David spun him out anyway. 

“Yeah. Yeah, she’ll do.” Matteo said when his hand was back on David’s shoulder, ignoring the smile on his face. “I’m gonna spill a drink on her when the song ends, and you’re gonna go up to her with some napkins and a good opening line.”

David groaned and placed his forehead on Matteo’s shoulder, “Can you maybe not assault this one?”

“It’s not assault! I just - I have a very physical style of breaking the ice.”

“That’s one of the definitions of assault,” David responded, lifting his head to look at Matteo again.

Matteo rolled his eyes, “Whatever. It’s been working, has it not?” 

“Yeah,” He couldn’t argue with that. “Yeah, it has. Somehow, it has,” David said, smiling at him. 

“Thank you.” Matteo kept his face serious but David knew he was pleased. 

Suddenly, a new voice appeared next to them, “Oh, this is hot.” He said, followed by a camera shutter clicking. “Oh, you guys better stop, drop, and roll!” He said, laughing. 

Matteo and David shared a look before they both turned to look at the cameraman, their expressions mirroring each other’s annoyance. 

The man, apparently oblivious to their disinterest, moved his camera from one hand to the next while he pretended to blow at his fingers, “Too hot. Too hot.” He exclaimed and returned to taking pictures of them.

They stared at him as he continued clicking away, both wondering why he insisted on taking pictures of them when they weren’t even dancing anymore.

“Please stop,” David finally said to him, his expression serious while Matteo’s remained annoyed. “You’re embarrassing yourself, man.”

***

They were only away from each other for a week. The next wedding was to one of David’s cousins and Matteo had been warned well before that he would meet David’s father and that this would not be like the other weddings they’d been to, seeing as most of the people invited would be his relative in some way. He wasn’t shocked or nervous at the news, though. He was just there as David’s friend, so what was the issue? Why the warning? But once they had sat down at the reception, David was visibly tense and Matteo understood. 

His cousin had seated him and his plus one with his father. Laura was supposed to be there, but she’d let them know she wasn't able to take off work. David suspected that it was payback for missing dinner with their father after finding out that he was engaged, but he was okay with that at first. He kinda deserved it. And at least he wasn’t alone. 

Although Matteo had never met Mr. Schreibner, the man immediately stuck out to him and David knew he would. But, Matteo had stayed close to him, hadn’t questioned him once when David insisted on sitting away from his father when they entered the church. He’d been behaving the entire night, probably because he could tell that David wasn’t comfortable. 

Especially now that Matteo was sitting between him and his father at their table. He was like David’s personal barrier. 

Usually, Matteo was quiet around people he didn’t know. Sometimes even those he knew. He found comfort in being around others because he didn’t like to be alone but never liked to talk as much, fearing he’d say something wrong that would make the others reject him. This fear had followed him through high school and then to college until he’d finally gotten the help he needed to at least manage it when it all became too much. But he still didn’t like to be alone, and he still found it hard sometimes to be himself around strangers. He used to let everyone decide for him and speak for him. He would do anything with his friends even if he didn’t want to, just so he wouldn’t be alone. 

But, then he met David, and he waited for Matteo to decide, making it hard for him to find a way out and have someone else speak for him. David would never let Matteo just say something and not ask him what he meant about it. He’d want to know Matteo’s thoughts on things because he was interested. He’d respect his silence when he didn’t want to talk, which is probably one reason they didn’t really speak their first month of being roommates, and asked what he needed when he saw that he was struggling. David paid attention to him as no one else did. And in return, Matteo did the same. 

So, Matteo knew something was up when they entered the church and David steered them away from his father. After that, he could see how he tensed when he noticed that they were all seated at the same table, so Matteo did something he knew David would do for him. He sat down in the chair next to David’s father, David on his right, and decided that he would do whatever talking David needed him to no matter how intimidating it was to be so close to someone he’d just met.

“What a ceremony, huh?” Mr. Schreibner was the first to speak after the best man's speech was over and there was just the loud music playing over their heads and awkward sips filling the silence at the table. They had greeted each other before and David introduced Matteo to his father and Gina and her two sons, who were ignoring them all and playing on their tablets.

While the ceremony was great, the speech by the best man was not. This one had sung for the couple which was fine until he started shouting a song about heartbreak that was clearly aimed at his past relationship. They should have known what was coming by his preface though, telling them about his tough year. Matteo and David had their hands over their mouths the entire time to stop themselves from laughing, ignoring the looks they were sure they were getting from Gina and his father. 

“Mm,” Matteo and David said at the same time. They both felt awkward, but Matteo was glad that it wasn’t just awkward _sipping _anymore.

“Loved the vows,” His father continued. “Cried. Cried like a baby.” Gina reached over to hold one of his hands and place a hand on his shoulder, her expression soft. “Anybody else cried?” He asked.

Matteo glanced at David and noticed that the smile he wore was absolutely forced and he wondered if they could tell. “Yeah, I cried,” Matteo said, raising his hand as his eyes lingered on Davids before he turned to look at Gina and his father. “But, I cry every day so it doesn’t mean anything.” 

David knew he was being sarcastic and he couldn’t help grinning at his words. He looked over at his father and saw that Matteo also amused him. 

“Crying can be very therapeutic.” Gina offered, but even she looked amused. 

“Not the way I do it!” Matteo looked over at David, who snorted at his words and probably his expression.

“So, you two met in college?” Gina asked. 

They both nodded, “We were roommates,” Matteo wrapped his arm around David’s shoulder and smiled warmly as he said, “but David basically ignored me for the first month.” 

“This is _not_ true!” David gasped. 

“Uh-oh. Intrigue!” His father laughed, eyes bright with amusement and Matteo couldn’t help but notice again how much he looked like David. Especially the eyes.

Matteo made a sound and tilted his head, “It’s a little true.” He wondered if he could tell the story of how they met each other, after the initial first meeting as roommates, and it seemed David understood his hesitation. 

He nodded, “Go on. Go.” David sighed, rolling his eyes at Matteo who was laughing at his reaction.

“I’m just kidding, sorta.” Matteo continued, “We were both just getting used to college life, I guess. Then we saw each other at a mixer thing they had for the LGBTQ+ students and I saw him there and we got along really well after that.” Matteo smiled warmly at David, ignoring his eye roll, and grabbed his hand giving it a good squeeze just to mock him. “Been best friends ever since.” 

“Aww,” They said, smiling at the two of them as they exchanged a glance. David’s smile was real now, despite his annoyance, and he was grateful for Matteo. He squeezed his hand back before letting go, turning to look at Gina who was looking at his father with such fondness and then quickly looking away.

“He should come to the wedding,” Gina suddenly said and David stiffened, he still hadn’t told Matteo about his father getting married. 

“Of course!” His father said, turning to smile at Matteo. “Matteo, you should come to our wedding.”

“Oh,” Matteo said, looking over at David for a second before turning back to them, the smile on his face now forced. “Uh, I didn’t know you guys…” He paused, clearing his throat. “When is it?”

“October 21st.” David’s father told him. “It’s on a Sunday!” Gina finished, smiling widely. 

“Cool,” Matteo said, biting down on his lip, completely caught off guard. David had yet to add anything to the conversation, but he didn’t know what to say, he could tell that Matteo felt uncomfortable now.

“You’re getting an invitation young man, and that’s the end of it.”

Matteo forced out a laugh and nodded, “Okay. Great.” He reached over and lifted his empty cup, “Um, you know what? I’m gonna grab a drink.” 

David watched as he stood up and he smiled at him, hoping to gauge his emotions, but Matteo was looking at the others and didn’t see it. 

“Do you guys want anything? Shots? Shots all around?” Matteo grinned, trying his best to be funny. “Shots for Gina?” 

They both laughed and shook their heads, “No, I’m fine with my wine.” Gina responded.

“Thanks!” His father said, grinning up at him now.

“Okay,” Matteo smiled at them once more before turning around and walking away, giving David a simple pat on the shoulder so they wouldn’t think anything happened. Because it technically didn’t.

“He’s adorable!” Gina said as soon as Matteo walked out of earshot, quickly followed by his father saying, “David, I see a lot of potential there.”

David shook his head, “No. It’s not - it’s not like that. We’re just,” He chuckled awkwardly, “we’re just friends.” 

Gina and his father exchanged a look. “David,” He said before he shifted himself over to Matteo’s chair and sat in front of his son, 

“Oh, you’re coming over,” David muttered, keeping a smile on his face despite wanting to do anything else. “Awesome.”

“Sorry we got off on such a bad foot last month,” His father said, his brown eyes looking so apologetic into his. 

“Um, can we not talk about this here?” David asked him, his eyes flickering to Gina and feeling uncomfortable with bringing up the conversation _about _her with her so close. Thankfully, she looked away from them, giving them a semblance of privacy. 

“Well, you won’t return my texts.” He argued, his voice soft.

“You only text me at like, 5 in the morning!” David responded.

“I’m an early riser!” 

“Okay,” David sighed, rolling his eyes. He didn’t want to fight. Not here.

He paused as if thinking over something carefully, “David…” He grabbed onto his shoulder, “I want you to be my best man.”

David felt like someone had knocked the wind out of him, he looked away from his father, wanting so badly to see Matteo walking back towards them. “Dad,” He said, his tone a little sharper than he intended.

“No. Buddy, there’s nobody else I would want to do this.” He patted his shoulder, his voice softening.

“What about Hanon?”

“What about him?”

“Make your best friend your best man,” David argued.

“Hanon? That’s ridiculous!” He scoffed, “He was Josef’s best man and his entire speech was about how there wasn’t enough cheese at the wedding!” His dad sighed, reading his expression, “David...you’re my son.”

His tone was pleading and David wanted to say no, he was going to say no. But he said, “Uh, I’ll - I’ll think about it.”

He knew that wasn’t the answer his father was looking for but a small smile still came to his lips, a smile so similar to David’s, and he patted his shoulder once more. It was a start, at least.

**

Matteo needed to move. He felt like he betrayed David by leaving him behind, but he couldn’t stay there anymore. He’d been prepared to speak for them both, to maybe learn something new about David, to laugh with David’s family and watch as his friend calmed down enough to willingly join in.

But David not telling him his father was getting married soon, what was that about? Did he not want him to know? Was that not a wedding he would go to with him? And although Matteo knew that David didn’t _have _to tell him everything that happened with him, it still sucked. 

“Can I get a tequila straight up?” He asked when he got to the bar, “Fill it up like a gas tank.”

“That’s a first.” The bartender commented but turned to make his drink, anyway. 

“Yeah.” Matteo sighed to himself and turned around to look at the room. People were walking around tables to get to their friends or the dance floor, loud music playing from the speakers. He realized he could see David from here and watched as he and his father had a tense-looking conversation. But Matteo resisted the urge to go back to him. David would be fine. 

“Oh, my God. Matteo!” A voice said next to him and he turned to see who it was. It took him a second to remember her, but he finally managed, “Oh! Hi, Jana!” He reached over and hugged her when he noticed that she was going in for a hug. She was one of Peter's friends. 

“Hey, how are you?” She asked, smiling.

“Good. How are you?” 

“So good! I had no idea you were gonna be here.”

“Yeah,” Matteo said, “I didn’t know you were gonna be here either.”

Jana turned away from him and smiled at the man behind her that Matteo hadn’t noticed, presumably her boyfriend. “This is Peter Monaghan’s boyfriend,” she explained. 

“Oh!” The man said and reached out to shake his hand. “Oh, my God. I love Peter! We interned together when we got out of college! How is that stupid bastard?”

“Um, he’s g-” Matteo paused and looked down at his hand, wondering if he should be honest or lie. “You know, I don’t know. We broke up.” He said, choosing the truth. 

“No,” Jana said, her voice so sad as if she was the one that was dumped.

“Shit,” the boyfriend said, withdrawing his hand, and Matteo wondered if he and Peter did more than _intern _together. 

“Yeah…” Matteo sighed.

“Are you kidding?” Jana asked

“No.” What kind of fucking question was that? 

“What happened? I loved you guys together! You guys were like yin and yang.” She sighed and Matteo resisted rolling his eyes. She turned to sadly look at her boyfriend, “I loved them together.”

Matteo decided it was time to go. He grabbed his drink off the counter, nodded at the bartender, and walked away from them.

“Yeah, I bet - I would have…” He heard the guy stammer out, and now he was 98% sure something happened between them.

“Matteo?” He heard Jana call after him when she noticed he was gone, “What the fuck was that?” He heard her ask in such an offended tone and he’d never wanted to throw a drink at someone so much. Peter’s boyfriend? What kind of bullshit? He didn’t turn to go to the table, deciding instead to just get out of there. Away from the loud music, away from the lights, and away from David. Just for a bit. 

***

David was alone now. After the conversation with his father, Gina had suggested they all dance. She had the boys put down their tablets and pulled them onto the dance floor, his dad happily following behind them. David, on the other hand, was sitting down and watching them, watching his father laugh as he watched the boys dance and moved along with them. He remembered how he was with him and Laura when they were little and the thought brought an ache to his chest he didn’t like, but it also reminded him of Laura and that she wasn’t here.

**Laura**

** _Today 21:09_ **

** **

**You suck for making me come here alone**

**Ha!**

**You’re the one that started it**

**What are you even doing anyway? **

**I know it’s not working.**

**I’m minding my business**

**Anyway, at least you have Matteo.**

  
  


David sighed at her messages, his suspicions confirmed. She was right though; he abandoned her the first time. They were supposed to take on this new family together, and he’d run away with Matteo instead. And now, it seemed, Matteo had run away from him. 

Looking around the room, he hoped he’d see his blonde hair hopping around to the music or standing at the bar, but there was absolutely no sign of him anywhere. David was sure he wouldn’t leave, no matter how confused he probably was with him for not talking about his father’s wedding. He knew Matteo would understand why he didn’t and he knew that Matteo wouldn’t be angry for keeping it from him. 

He sent his sister a message promising to call her when he got back home tomorrow and stood up, deciding to look for Matteo outside knowing that when Matteo disappeared, he usually found a quiet place to think. 

Briefly, he wondered if it would be hard to find him now that it was dark outside, but it didn’t take him long to find him at all. In fact, he heard him before he saw him. 

“Wait, wait. That shadow looks just like Jay Leno’s face.” He and some of his uncles and his father’s friends were surrounding him, laughing loudly as they passed a joint around. 

“You’re absolutely right,” His uncle Rob agreed and Matteo laughed before continuing, “That’s his nose. That’s his chin.” He was pointing at the shadow, showing them what he saw. “See? His nose? His chin?” And they laughed.

“David!” His uncle said when he saw him, reaching over to pull him into the huddle. 

“Uncle Davis,” David greeted him, patting the arm that grabbed onto him.

“David!” Matteo said and his smile was so wide. 

“Hi,” David said just to him, trying to gauge how he was feeling but Matteo’s attention was taken by one of his uncles, so he greeted the other men. “Hey, guys.”

“Come on, David. Get in on this doobie, buddy.” Uncle Davis said as he passed the joint to him.

“Yeah, David,” Matteo agreed, turning back to him and laughing, “Get in on this_ doobie_!”

“Uh, no thanks. I’m all good on doobies for tonight.” David responded, trying to meet Matteo’s eyes now to silently ask him if they could leave. 

“Where’s your dad?” His uncle asked, “He used to love this stuff.”

“He’s inside,” David told him and his uncle nodded before turning his attention to his friend, “Here you go Jimmy, it’s your turn.” He passed the joint over to him and David looked at Matteo again, nodding his head toward the street. 

Matteo frowned in confusion, mouthing, “Huh?” to David who then motioned his body away from them, moving a little slower this time and Matteo understood. David wanted to leave. 

“Alright, guys. I’m gonna - I have to take off.” Matteo said, and groans of protest followed from all the men, “I know! It’s a _tragedy_! I _ know_!” Matteo laughed and moved over to David. 

“Oh!” Uncle Davis said, looking from Matteo to David and grinned. “David’s got to run off with his little boyfriend.” He teased, and the others snickered.

Matteo rolled his eyes. “Alright, you guys gotta - you gotta take it down a notch, uncle Davis.” 

They laughed and bid them farewell, Matteo waved goodbye to them and walked next to David when he turned.

The smile on David’s face fell now that he didn’t have to put on a show, but he was grateful that Matteo was next to him. Glad that he could trust that Matteo wouldn’t be far away.

“Everything okay?” Matteo asked him, he sounded worried. 

“Yeah, uh,” David looked over at Matteo, seeing the worry on his face but knowing he wouldn’t pry until David was ready. “can we go get fucked up?” 

Another bright smile came upon Matteo’s face and David blinked at him, unable to stop himself from smiling back. “Oh David, I want you to know something,” He wrapped his arm around David’s shoulder and pulled him closer, “I’m never gonna say no to that.” 

David laughed, glad that he didn’t have to explain himself any further. He wrapped an arm around Matteo’s waist and matched his pace to his. They had to walk downhill, so it was a bit difficult but they didn’t let go of each other and David didn’t mind it at all. This was the first time he felt like he could breathe freely tonight. 

“Come on,” Matteo said, “let’s go find some people our own age.” 

***

It turned out that they weren’t the only ones that were looking for a way out. David’s cousins and their plus ones were all waiting for a shuttle to take them to a public pool on the other side of town. The guys had gotten there just in time to find a seat where they weren’t uncomfortably squished into each other, although it didn’t seem like either of them would have minded sitting in each other’s lap. 

The way the night passed them by felt magical. They laughed the entire way there and once they reached, everyone had kicked off their shoes and jumped right into the pool. Matteo had jumped in before David, who’d taken the extra seconds to shrug his jacket off and then jumping in. He didn’t have to worry about being uncomfortable here, not only because most of the people there were related to him, but because everyone else was fully clothed. 

Matteo and David grinned at each other when David reached where he was in the pool and suddenly someone was saying they should race to the other side of the pool and the two had quickly joined in. When they’d gotten tired of racing around, everyone huddled together to share a couple bottles of rum. Matteo was on David’s back, his arms wrapped around his neck as they floated together, laughing along with him and his cousins and drinking out of the bottle when it was passed to him. It was nice. 

After a while, the others had separated in their own little huddles and Matteo and David found themselves alone. 

David was frowning at the figure under the water and silently counting to himself. 

Matteo exhaled loudly when he pushed himself above water, “What was that?” Matteo asked, catching his breath as he moved his hair out of his face. 

“That was 12 seconds.” David’s tone was incredibly unimpressed. 

“What? That was 5 minutes!”

“You think you can hold your breath for five minutes?”

“I _ know _ I can.” 

David scoffed, “I feel like you vastly overestimate your abilities.”

“I think I perfectly estimate my everything, David.”

“Okay,” David chuckled and rolled his eyes, “fine.”

“Can I asked you something?” Matteo asked, wiping his face. His tone was serious now and David knew what he would ask.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that your dad got engaged?”

“I don’t know,” David sighed, turning his attention to the water, “I don’t know.” He looked up and met Matteo’s eyes after a few seconds of being silent, and he was grateful for his patience. “I didn’t really want to tell you something I don’t really want to think about.” 

“Okay,” Matteo responded. He was willing to accept that answer, especially since he was selfishly relieved that it had nothing to do with him. But, he said nothing else, just waited for David to continue if he wanted to. 

“He, uh, he asked me to be his best man tonight.” 

“Oh,” Matteo exhaled, dipping his chin underwater and blowing some bubbles, thinking it over. 

“Yeah,”

“What did you tell him?” 

“I just kind of...ran off.” 

“Classic David move,” Matteo stated, but his tone was soft.

“I don’t know. I panicked.” David sighed, “What am I supposed to do, you know? Like, plan his bachelor party?” He asked, and Matteo laughed. “Hire him a stripper?” He continued, but he was laughing too. “I mean, that’s insane.”

Matteo nodded, “It is insane, but I get it. I was bugged out at first when Jonas asked me to be his best man.” 

“Yeah, but he’s your best friend. It’s perfectly normal for you to be his best man!” 

“Yeah,” Matteo muttered and David looked away from him, turning his attention to the water again. He could see that he was mulling over his thoughts so he waited.

“It’s just…” He began to say after a while, “I feel like he’s trying to start over with this new family ‘cause he fucked ours up.” David thought back to the reception when he watched his father dance with his stepbrothers like he used to with him and Laura.

“Well, at least he’s happy.” Matteo offered. 

“Yeah. For now.” 

They both got quiet, David looking away while Matteo watched his face, thinking over what he wanted to tell him. 

“David, my parents didn’t like each other. I mean, my father, he was always yelling at my mother because he couldn’t handle everything she was dealing with. They stuck it out for years, though. They didn’t want me to go through a divorce, I was so young and an only child.” Matteo looked away from David, unable to keep eye contact while he spoke of a time in his life that he tried so hard to forget, but he could feel David’s eyes on him.

“After a while, though, the fights got worse and my mom got worse and I would stay at Jonas’s for days because going home and being there - it was like we were walking on eggshells. Then one day I get home from school to find out that my father fucked off to Italy, and that it was just me and my mom and then, eventually, it was just me.” He sighed and returned his eyes to David’s, he could feel his throat tightening. “I’m sure it broke your heart when your parents split up, but at least they weren’t miserable. They made a difficult decision but I can guarantee, had they not made it, you would like that a lot less.” 

“Hey,” David said, listening to Matteo sniffle while he collected himself.

“Hmm?”

He opened his arms, smiling softly at him. “Come here.” 

Matteo groaned but swam forward and wrapped his arms around David’s neck, resting his chin on his shoulder and sniffling softly. David’s eyes were closed as they hugged and he was thinking over Matteo’s words, knowing how hard it was for Matteo to talk about that part of his past. 

After a while, Matteo broke the silence, “Hey, David?”

“Yeah?”

“I am totally reading your boner right now.”

“Goddamn - No!” David laughed, and he pulled away from the hug but Matteo held onto him.

“Relax!” Matteo laughed, pulling himself closer to David, the motion making their chins brush against each other. And then their noses. Matteo found himself looking at David’s lips and when he looked up, David was looking at his. 

But then whatever had come across them had gone away and suddenly the silence that surrounded them was louder than ever. How long had it been quiet? How long had the water been so still? David looked around and frowned, “Where - where did everybody go?” He asked and Matteo pulled away from him to look around.

“I don’t - I don’t know. Shit.”

“Should we - we should get out, right?” 

“Yeah, yeah let’s go.” 

Once they were out of the pool, Matteo was quick to notice the heaviness of his clothes, especially his jacket. “Fuck, it’s cold.” He muttered to himself as he pulled it off while he walked over to where the towels were kept and was quick to wrap one around his shoulders. David was quickly running the towel over his body and his hair, slinging his, thankfully, dry jacket over his shoulder.

They both rushed out the gates to see if anyone was out there, Matteo first and David right behind him. “Are they out there?” David asked and Matteo shook his head. 

“No. We must have missed the shuttle.” He responded, looking up and down the empty street. 

“Oh, shit,” David said, silently cursing his cousins. They really just left them there without saying anything. Assholes.

“Let’s call a car,” Matteo suggested but David shook his head, “My phone’s dead.” 

Matteo turned and walked back to get his shoes and checked his phone before groaning loudly, “Mine too.”

“Oh, fuck!” 

“Where’s our hotel?” Matteo asked, returning to his side.

“Uh, it’s about 10,000 miles that way.” David gestured and Matteo grinned. 

“Only 10,000 miles?”

“We’re gonna die out here.” David groaned.

“Let’s just walk,” Matteo said, already moving away from him, his shoes in his hands and his jacket now wrapped around his waist. “Come on, grumps! Let’s do it! Forward ho!”

**

“Are you serious?” David scoffed, looking over at Matteo, disgusted. They’d walked in silence for about 5 minutes before they reached a well-lit street. All the trees had string lights wrapped around them and every corner store had a streetlight illuminating their alleyway, it all made it look like a fake set in a movie. But, they were glad that they weren’t walking in darkness anymore. And Matteo was glad that David had taken pity on him and lent him his jacket when he noticed that he was shivering. Apparently, you couldn’t be barefoot _and_ wet. Well, not _that _kind of wet, anyway. 

“I’m not saying I always do it!” Matteo laughed, entertained by David’s repulsion.

“That is so gross!” 

“David, don’t pretend that you don’t let a little dribble come out when you’re in the shower.” He said, rolling his eyes at him and pushing his shoulder against his.

“I _don’t _let a little dribble come out when I’m showering - if you pee in a shower, it, by definition, becomes a toilet,” David argued, pushing Matteo back. 

Matteo opened his mouth to respond, but he was suddenly distracted by the bright yellow coming from a window of one of the closed shops. “Oh, look at these!” He said, getting a closer look at the flowers. “So pretty.”

“I never understood flowers,” David told him, frowning at them in the window as he passed by, leaving Matteo behind to admire them.

“I’m sorry, you don’t understand them?” He asked, his voice a little louder now that David was a few feet away from him.

David turned to look at Matteo, walking backward as he waited for him to catch up. “They just don’t make sense to me as, like, a symbol of love, you know?” He shrugged.

“Why not?” Matteo asked.

“Because as soon as you get them, they’re on this withering, downward spiral.”

Matteo groaned loudly, “Oh god. It’s not about how long they last. It’s about how it feels to get a big fucking sack of tulips!”

“Yeah,” David said, unimpressed, “Gifts shouldn’t die on you. That’s all I’m saying.” 

Matteo shook his head and looked around at all the closed stores, wondering where they were. “You said you knew where our hotel was.” He said, turning an accusing eye to David.

“And I do.”

“Where are we?” He challenged.

“Um…” David looked away from him, turning to look at the empty street as well and reaching up to scratch his head. 

“You don’t know where we’re going!” 

“Let’s - let’s go this way.” David pointed across the street, ignoring Matteo’s almost true words. The place looked familiar, he remembered the trees because he’d noticed them when they were on the shuttle heading to the pool. But a laughing Matteo distracted him and he wasn’t paying much attention to anything except that. Matteo sighed, pretty sure they were lost but followed him, anyway.

Eventually, Matteo ended up on David’s back, his legs wrapped around his waist and his arms around David’s neck. David was holding onto Matteo as securely as he could but it was a little difficult with his left hand also carrying his shoes.

“Oh, we’re so lost!” Matteo declared, looking around at their new surroundings. They’d left the light of the small town a while ago and David had been quiet while he carried him, only grunting slightly when he felt Matteo slipping off his back and readjusting him. 

“I think we need to start hitchhiking,” David breathed, amused by their situation and Matteo’s dramatic outburst.

“My feet hurt!” Matteo grumbled, ignoring him and resting his chin on David’s shoulder.

“I’m carrying you??” David scoffed turning his head to look at Matteo.

It got quiet for a few seconds before Matteo spoke again, “I can see the whole world from up here,” Matteo joked but David had stopped walking and was looking towards something that Matteo hadn’t noticed. 

“Wait, hold on. Look.” David said and he let go of Matteo’s legs so he could get off his back. He exhaled deeply when he felt Matteo get down and walked over to the opening of a cemetery.

“Ooh,” Matteo said, placing his chin on David’s shoulder. “Spooooooky.” 

David turned to smile at him but was quickly distracted by the faint sounds of cars coming from the other side, “Wait, wait, wait.” he said when Matteo opened his mouth to say something else. 

“What?”

“I can hear the highway over there,” David said, pointing at the other end of the cemetery. “Let’s go!” He was already moving but Matteo grabbed onto his shoulder, his face suddenly serious. 

“Hold on!” Matteo said, pulling David back towards him.

“What?”

“You gotta hold your breath when you go through a cemetery.”

David rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah, yeah. Right, ‘cause we’re 6.”

“No, David.” Matteo frowned at him, “I’m not fucking around here. I’m serious.” 

David stared at him for a second and a smile slowly formed on his lips, “Oh, my god.” 

“What?” Matteo whispered.

“You actually believe in ghosts!”

“No...” It was Matteo’s turn to stare now, and he used his time to take off David’s jacket and handed it to him before tightening his jacket that was around his waist so it wouldn’t slip off, ignoring the amusement he could see on David’s face. The longer Matteo was quiet, though, the more David’s smile turned into a frown and Matteo could see the concern in his expression. Matteo observed the cemetery carefully and then, looking at David, he took a deep breath and ran in. 

It took David a second to understand what Matteo was doing but when he did; he took off. Matteo’s laughter was far ahead of him but David was catching up and he couldn’t help but laugh when he heard Matteo’s shriek of delight when he heard David close behind. 

David sped up and passed right by Matteo, noticing the wide grin on his face and feeling his own wide grin hurting his cheeks. “Ha!” He said and kept going until he heard Matteo yelp and a thud as his body hit the ground.

Turning his head, he saw Matteo lying face down on the ground, “Oh, shit.” He quickly turned around and ran towards him.

“Aah, fuck!” Matteo said, but he was laughing. 

“You okay?” David asked him, he was almost there now and he could see what caused Matteo’s fall - his jacket. He watched as Matteo pushed himself up and turned to sit on the grass, lifting his elbow close to his face to observe the damage. “Oh, my god.” David exclaimed, “You really ate shit! You alright?”

“Yeah,” Matteo said when he reached him and he laughed when he noticed the blood on his arm, “Aah, look at that.” He said, his tone calm but amused. 

“Oh, you are bleeding.” David said, laughing with Matteo, “You are bleeding. You are _not _gonna make it.” He reached over and grabbed on Matteo’s arm so he could get a closer look but Matteo resisted.

“No, it’s fine. I’m fine.” He protested, but David held onto him. 

“Hold on, hold on. I got it. Let me just get some of the dirt out.”

“Ow, ow.” He watched as David cleaned away the blood with his jacket, inhaling sharply. “It stings.” He grumbled and David laughed but when he looked over at Matteo, the laughter faded away. 

Their faces were close again. Matteo’s eyes moved to look at David’s lips and gulped when he saw that David was looking at his as well. Their eyes met and everything melted away as they slowly leaned into each other, David’s eyes moving from Matteo’s eyes and back to his lips, Matteo doing the same, making sure the other was okay with what was happening. 

Just a second ago they could hear the crickets and frogs and the cars passing by on the other side of the graveyard, but now all the sounds left when their eyes met. 

And in the blink of an eye, their lips met for the first time, but just for a second before they pulled away, their foreheads resting against each other. A question lingering in the silence, their breathing the only thing they could hear.

And then they were kissing again but with more fervor and not stopping. David reached for Matteo’s face while Matteo’s arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer. The whole world was gone now. Matteo pulled David down to the ground with him, quickly kicking his jacket away from his feet and rolling them around until he was on top of David. David was quick to wrap his legs around Matteo and pulling him closer, groaning when he felt Matteo grind against him.

They fumbled a bit with their clothes, David struggling to push his pants and boxers down with Matteo still on top of him. Matteo broke away from the kiss to help David, throwing the clothes to the side once they were off, leaving them where David had dropped his jacket and Matteo’s shoes, then quickly returning to David’s lips. He reached down and unzipped his pants, pushing it and his boxers as far down as he needed, groaning as he felt the relief of being set free from the constraints of his pants. 

David could feel Matteo’s hardness rub against him as they kissed and the little part of David that was still thinking responsibly pushed Matteo’s face away, ignoring the groan from the other who immediately pushed his lips against David’s again. “Wait, wait, wait,” David said, reaching up to push his face away. 

“What is it?” Matteo groaned, frowning down at him. Was he changing his mind? He went to move away from David, but David reached down and grabbed onto him and Matteo froze, biting down on his lip to hold back the sound that wanted to escape, inhaling sharply instead. He could feel his face heating up - it had been a while since he’d been touched and he was a little embarrassed by his reactions. 

“We need a condom,” David said, his voice was different, urgent. 

“I don’t have one!” Matteo stared at him, disappointed that what had just started would end so soon but he understood. They had to be careful. 

“But, I do.” David was teasing him and even though the urge to push him away was strong, his hand was still around him and he was completely in control now. Matteo didn’t mind this at all, though, so he just laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Lay down, I wanna be on top,” David told him, moving carefully with him and not taking his hand away until he was straddling him. 

David was quick, pulling the condom out of his wallet that he kept there for emergencies only, and carefully putting it on Matteo. He could feel Matteo's impatience under him, felt him move whenever David shifted and, honestly, he felt the same. 

“Okay?” David asked Matteo, hearing how breathless he sounded. But no matter how much he wanted to continue, he needed to make sure Matteo was still good. 

“Okay,” Matteo gasped and David was quick to comply.

They both groaned as David lowered himself onto him, Matteo louder than David but he didn’t have it in him to feel any of the embarrassment he felt before. All he felt was David as he moved on top of him, slowly at first while his hands reached out to steady himself on Matteo’s chest, and then Matteo was grabbing onto David’s thighs and pushing his hips up to meet his. 

For a few seconds, they were just gasps and grunts as they moved with each other, but David wanted to kiss Matteo - so he did. He placed both hands at the sides of his head while he continued to move and hurriedly pressed his lips against Matteo’s, who yelped in pain almost immediately. “Ouch! You’re on my hair!” 

“Sorry!” David said, chuckling quietly against his lips and quickly adjusted himself before moving to kiss him again. Matteo’s hands were in his hair, pulling him as close as he could without interrupting their moving, their kisses sloppy and fevered as David sped up. 

They didn’t know what they would have to deal with in the morning but, for the moment, that was okay. 

**

  
  


“Pecker’s out,” a voice said, causing Matteo and David to grimace in their sleep. Matteo groaned, “Uh, what?” 

“Pecker’s out.” The voice said again, a bit louder this time. 

David opened his eyes to squint into the bright sunlight. “What are you talking about?” He mumbled sleepily, Matteo, whose head was resting on David’s shoulder, stirred next to him and groaned again before opening his eyes to squint at the voice as well. 

“Pecker,” The man began to say, this time his voice was 100% clear, gesturing at Matteo. 

Matteo jumped awake, quickly standing up to pull his pants up. “Oh, fucking hell!” He shouted, “Oh my god,” David said at the same time, standing up himself and grabbing their jackets and Matteo's shoes. 

“It’s out.” The man finished saying. They couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or amused at the state he found them in. 

“Sorry,” David said to him, turning away and walking towards the highway after grabbing Matteo’s hand so he’d follow. 

“Yeah, thanks and sorry!” Matteo said, stumbling behind David and trying his best not to trip. 

“He was talking about my dick.” He told David, who nodded. 

“Yeah, I got that after the third ‘pecker’.” Matteo scoffed at him, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

“Fuck. When did you put your pants on?” He asked David, slightly offended. 

“I have no idea but I’m glad I did.” David laughed, “I mean, could you imagine?” Despite feeling embarrassed that a random man in a graveyard saw his penis, Matteo laughed too.

**

  
  


Matteo and David both wanted to be close to each other, this was obvious. They had no reason to be sitting next to each other at an outdoor fast food place with more than enough tables for 2. They had no reason to both be facing the horizon, elbows almost touching a few times. 

They’d been laughing earlier but when they’d finally gotten a car to bring them back to the hotel, everything had gone quiet. The tension was so high in the small space, they both secretly wondered if the driver could feel it. 

_ Just say it. Directly. With words. _ The words kept turning over in David’s mind, urging him to speak up, to tell Matteo that they needed to talk about what happened even if it was uncomfortable. David was hyping himself up with every bite of his burger, telling himself that he’d look at Matteo and he would say something. But, when he turned, Matteo would turn to look at him too and all he would see is his reflection thanks to the sunglasses Matteo had insisted on wearing, and he couldn’t even bring himself to do it. His sunglasses were blocking his eyes, hiding whatever he was feeling behind them, but there was a frown on his lips even though he didn’t seem upset. The vibes between them were awkward, but no one was angry, that much he could tell. The fact that they were sitting next to each other instead of in front of each other was weird, but David didn’t want to sit across from him. It would be too much even if he couldn’t see his eyes. 

Matteo, on the other hand, was doing a great job of freaking out and hiding it. Communication was key. Matteo knew this. He _knew _this. But he couldn’t bring himself to do anything but steal glances at David, who was always looking at him when he did. There was no reason to suspect that he was freaking out while chewing on his burger, he’d had years of training in hiding his emotions so he would be okay for now. Matteo knew his face was red, but he was wearing sunglasses that hid his eyes and could blame the redness on the sun. He kept his expression neutral like he was taking in the view they were both facing while having a nice brunch together. But, he was freaking out. In a few hours, he’d talk to Amira and Jonas and maybe they’d figure it out together. He’d already texted them and asked them to keep their evenings free. The number of exclamation points he used would hopefully tip them off that it was serious. 

David turned to Matteo again, opening his mouth to say something but quickly abandoning it and grabbing his drink instead when Matteo turned to look at him. He kept stealing glances at him, though, trying to gauge his emotions. How was he feeling about what happened? Why hadn’t he said anything when they’d met up again after separating to go to their rooms and pack up? He could feel Matteo’s eyes on him now and it reminded him of how Matteo would stare at him when they were in college. The feeling was familiar, but it was clouded with so much uncertainty, he didn’t know what to think. David turned his head and smiled encouragingly at Matteo, who only deepened his frown and looked away. Sighing, David returned to his meal, hating the confusion. He was glad that he’d be seeing his sister in a few hours.

The drive back home was just as awkward as they’d both expected it to be. Once they were in a small space together, the tension was palpable. Matteo paid more attention to the landscape than anything else, he didn’t even want to sleep. He could feel David’s eyes on him, could hear him shifting when he turned his head to look at him but he couldn’t bring himself to look back. His entire body was awake, his mind racing as he remembered the night from before but he kept his face neutral since he couldn’t tell if David noticed when his face suddenly flared up as he recalled their night and he definitely did not turn to check. Eventually, though, he stole a glance and then a couple more. He’d kept his sunglasses on so when David turned to look at him all he saw was a frown before Matteo looked way.

When they finally reached Matteo’s place, he quickly unbuckled himself and pushed the door open. He didn’t notice that David had gotten out.

David had opened the trunk and pulled Matteo’s bag out and was already walking around to the passenger side to hand it to Matteo when he got out the car.

“Oh,” Matteo muttered, surprised that he’d gotten out the car at all and grabbing hold of the bag. “Thank you,”

They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence and Matteo cleared his throat, wanting so badly to just go inside so he could figure out everything that he was feeling. 

“Um…” Matteo said, his eyebrows coming together as he frowned. 

David cleared his throat, “Na?” He asked, pushing his hands into his front pockets and looking at the ground for a few seconds before returning his gaze to Matteo’s clearly uncomfortable expression. 

“Yeah,” Matteo quickly responded, “you?” 

“Yeah. You?” 

“You just asked me that.” 

“Yeah. You?” He repeated one more time and chuckled before lifting his eyes to the sky, annoyed that he was so uncomfortable around Matteo. It was such a foreign feeling to not know what to say to him. Matteo’s forced laugh definitely didn’t help, he could feel his cheeks heating up.

“Okay! Well,” Matteo said when it got quiet for too long again. “I’ll see you at the next one.” He started making his way to his door and David was moving to go back to the car and drive himself back home despite all the confusion. 

But he turned around and blurted out the words before he could stop himself, “Hey, so, about last night...”

“Nooo. No.” Matteo quickly shot it down, shaking his head. He couldn’t handle this conversation right now. “We don’t need to talk about it. Let’s just - let’s just chalk it up as a _whoopsie-daisy!_” Something told him he would regret saying that - he already did. 

“Wow,” David said, nodding his head slowly as a smile appeared on his face. “Okay.” So that’s how it would go?

“Alright,” Matteo exhaled in relief, a smile appearing on his face.

“Alright. It was, uhh, cool - cool sex.” He didn’t know what made him do it but he opened his arms and reached out for a hug and Matteo instinctively met him in the middle, patting his back awkwardly. 

“That was weird,” Matteo stated when he pulled away from David before making his way up the steps that would take him to the door, he couldn’t even look at him. 

“You made it weird.” David retorted, walking around his car and keeping his head down the entire time, unable to even steal a glance he was so embarrassed. 

“No. You did.”

Nothing made sense. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- new drinking game: take a shot every time you read "his father". I didn't want to give David's dad a name because nothing felt right to me so I just DIDN'T.  
\- Let me know what y'all think about this chapter! The next one is gonna be a more original chapter from me because I want them to discuss what happened with their friends and while, in the movie, I'm sure this happens it's never shown and I wanted to write them properly freaking out! 
> 
> i'm @superdanys on tumblr if any of y'all wanna chat!


	6. Are You Asking Me or Telling Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was always something, some excuse. David didn’t date people, he dated ideas. Matteo wasn’t his type of idea. Or so they made it seem for most of their friendship. What was the excuse now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Well, here it is. This took some time to write and tbh I avoided it for a while because I just couldn't get a hang on these boys and their thoughts but I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope I did them justice.  
\- Thank you for your patience and your comments! I truly appreciate and cherish them so much.  
\- And once again, thank you to my best friend Renee for reading everything I sent to her and not judging me when I did everything else except write lol

**Matteo** found it difficult to sit still as he waited for Amira and Jonas to get there. He tried his best to, but ultimately he decided to cook something. He rushed over to his kitchen and started collecting everything he needed for his favorite comfort food - pasta. Pretty soon he had his headphones over his ears and the volume up as he continued working, doing his best to block all his thoughts. 

He didn’t want to think about how it felt to kiss David, something he didn’t even want to admit that he’d thought about a lot when they were in school together, he didn’t want to think about the way he looked in the moonlight or the sounds he made when they were together or the way he laughed this morning as they waited for a car to pick them up and take them back to their hotel. How he laughed like he wanted to savor the moment from their night together before they had to think about what they did, how it would affect their friendship. No, he wanted to think about the food he was making and the loud music in his ears. 

It was working just fine at first. He’d got almost halfway through making the meal without thinking about him and the way he smelled and the way his curly hair always looked properly put together and how soft it was when he ran his fingers through it, but then the loud music changed to something slow and sweet and he couldn’t help the thoughts of David that ran through his head. 

The ethereal sound of the music reminded him of the waterfall from the previous wedding and how David had smiled so wide Matteo couldn’t help but feel his excitement and smile in return. That it was in Spanish only added to the feelings he was trying to avoid. The thoughts of _what if _that he’d pushed away once he realized that he and David would just be friends. He wondered what it would be like to slow dance with David to this song and his thoughts wandered to David in a suit smiling softly at him, but a tap on his shoulder took him right out of his daydream and made him jump out of his skin. 

“Fuck!” He yelled, turning around and only seeing the bright yellow of a hijab and a confused expression. “Amira! What the fu- when did you get here?” He sighed in relief and pushed the headphones down so they were around his neck, the music still softly playing as he placed a hand on his chest waiting for his heart rate to return to normal. 

“Matteo! I’ve been knocking on the door for so long and there was no answer. I let myself in before one of your neighbors thought I was trying to rob you and call the police.” She sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to look at the pot on the stove, “What are you doing?” 

“I’m stress cooking.” He muttered, picking up his spoon and moving over to the sauce in the pan. “Something happened and I need to talk to you and Jonas about it.” 

“Well, Jonas will be a while since he and Hanna were visiting family this weekend, but he said he’ll be here as soon as they’re settled.”

“What? When did he say that?” 

“In our chat! Matteo, don’t you check your messages?” 

Matteo frowned and moved over to his phone he left on the counter when he’d started playing his music. He saw the notifications from his chat with Jonas and Amira appear and then multiple messages from Amira telling him she was outside and knocking and then an extra text at the bottom from Peter. He ignored the text and looked over at Amira, an apologetic smile appearing. “Sorry,” 

Amira shook her head and moved over to a barstool at the counter. “Alright, tell me what’s going on.” He could see the concern in her eyes even though she was smiling softly at him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to explain while looking at her. 

Matteo turned away, deciding to continue cooking while he told Amira his situation. He exhaled loudly before blurting, “David and I had sex last night.” 

He knew the expression that Amira would have on her face when he turned around to look at her. Her eyebrows would be raised in surprise, her hand covering her mouth to hide her shock. “And I feel like it’s just fucked everything up.” He said before bracing himself, turning around to face her. He opened his mouth to continue but stopped once he saw the expression on Amira’s face. 

There was no shock, no covering of the mouth, just a smirk and a look. Like an, _ I knew this would happen _look like she wanted to laugh. 

“Do you think this is funny?” He asked, incredulous. 

“It’s a little funny, yes.” She responded, crossing her arms across her chest and raising an eyebrow. Challenging him. “Don’t you?” 

If it was somebody else, anyone else, Matteo probably would’ve walked away, but this was Amira and she could say things like that to him, even when he was stressed. “Okay, it’s a little funny,” He admitted, “but Amira! I had _ sex _ with _ David _ and it was in a _ cemetery _ and then I called it a_ whoopsie daisy_!”

Now her eyebrows were raised and her hand was over her mouth. “Matteo!” Her tone was scolding and filled with disbelief. “A cemetery?” She paused. “Matteo! A cemetery?!” She repeated.

Matteo grimaced, “Is that really all you’re going to comment on?” He sighed and turned away from her, back to the food. 

“Matteo, the only shocking thing about you and David getting together is the location, which is horrifying, and that it’s taken this long.” He heard the barstool slide softly against the floor as she stood up and soon Amira was standing beside him, grabbing a spoon and stirring the sauce. It was nice to have her next to him doing something he was so comfortable preparing, and he had to admit that just her being there calmed him down more than the music did. 

“Amira,” He could hear how sad his voice sounded as he mumbled her name, “I could not have handled that situation any worse if I _ tried_.” Matteo turned off the burner his pot was on and moved the pot over to the sink to drain it, Amira stayed quiet as she waited for him to continue. “I made it seem like it was nothing but how could it be nothing?” 

She didn’t answer him, but he heard the click from the stove as Amira turned off her burner and moved the pan away from the heat to bring it to Matteo so they could mix it together once he was ready.

As they worked together to finish up, Matteo told Amira about everything that happened that night. From David’s father getting married to the conversation in the pool, including the almost kiss, and then walking around the town and racing through the graveyard before he tripped, then this morning’s very awkward brunch and finally the fucking whoopsie daisy. She listened to him and Matteo knew she would keep her thoughts to herself until he was finished. At one point, though, he saw her check her phone, and a smirk appeared on her lips but when he asked her about it, she just shook her head and mumbled something about Mohammed texting her before she encouraged him to continue.

“And so now we’re here. I put my phone over there because it seemed like he wanted to talk about it more and I just could not handle it right now.” They were at the table now, plates set and waiting for Jonas, who had sent a text letting them know he was on his way. Matteo was resting his head on his arms and everything he was saying came out muffled. “I feel like I would just fuck it up even more if we spoke right now.”

“Fuck what up?” Jonas called from the front door, they heard him set his keys aside and kick his shoes off. 

“Matteo and David had sex,” Amira announced when he came into view and Matteo’s head shot up to look at her and then at Jonas, who was now at the table staring at him with wide eyes and a shit-eating grin. 

“Ey, Luigi!” He said, patting his shoulder roughly, “That took a while, didn’t it? Years!” He exclaimed and Amira nodded. 

“Why don’t you tell Jonas _ where _ this happened, Matteo?” 

He glared at her, “I don’t see why the location is so important, Amira.” 

She ignored him and turned to Jonas, “In a cemetery!”

Matteo ignored the look he was getting from Jonas, deciding that now was the best time to eat and served their food, shaking his head in mock disbelief. “I invite you to my house, I cook for you, and you judge me.”

He let Amira catch Jonas up on everything and unlike Amira, Jonas didn’t hide any of his reactions. He gasped at the part about the almost kiss and then the actual kiss, laughing out loud about his wake-up call this morning especially since Amira had turned to him and innocently asked, “What did that man tell you was out, Matteo?” He quickly muttered the answer but Amira didn’t relent, “Hm? What was that?” She asked him, her eyes twinkling with amusement. 

“He said my _pecker _was out,” Matteo grumbled but he said it loud enough for them to hear it and sent another glare Amira’s way, feeling his face heat at their laughter. 

But, before she could tell him about their last conversation, Jonas turned to him and punched his arm, “So you’re together now, huh? I was wondering if you two were just the most oblivious people. I mean, I understand why David started nothing in the first year of college but after that? You two were basically glued to each other, right Amira?” 

Amira nodded and opened her mouth to continue but Matteo beat her to it, “We um - we’re not together,” he muttered so softly that it took a second before Jonas _heard _it. Matteo groaned and pushed his palms into his eyes, his elbows on the table were the only thing holding him up so he didn’t go face first into his pasta. He could feel their eyes on him. “I fucked it up! I made it look like it was just something that _happened _and we should just leave it alone and he agreed to it. I couldn’t even look at him after that.”

“He called it a whoopsie daisy,” Amira explained to Jonas who made sound Matteo didn’t like. 

“_I called it a whoopsie daisy!_” The words came out in a shout, his voice breaking near the end as he met Amira’s eyes and then Jonas’. “A. fucking. whoopsie. daisy.” The words would haunt him until his last breath, he knew it. He could feel the panic rising in his throat, the stress making its way through his body and his palms made contact with his eyes again, shutting out the light so he could try to focus on their voices and calm down. “And then to just add on to things, Peter is texting me again.”

Jonas could see it in the way his shoulders tensed that Matteo was on the edge of a panic attack and he rushed in to bring him back down, “Listen, bro, first, _ fuck _ Peter and second, I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re making it seem- no! Do _ not _say whoopsie daisy again.” Jonas warned him before he continued, his voice soft. “I think you and David just need to talk it out.” 

“I agree,” Amira added, sounding just as careful as Jonas. “about Peter _ and _ David.” She clarified. “I mean, you said yourself that you didn’t have a proper conversation about it so how would you even know where you stand with each other if you don’t _ talk?_” 

Suddenly, Amira’s soft but firm voice was on his right and he felt an arm around his shoulders pulling him toward her, the contact was already calming him down. “You’re both adults who decided to sleep together and if you want to continue being in each other’s lives, you will have to talk to each other.” He heard shuffling from the other side and felt Jonas’s hand in his hair, messing it up more than it already was.

“I want David to be in my life,” Matteo mumbled after a few seconds of silence. “I just don’t know _ how _ I want him in my life, you know?” He sighed loudly, relaxing his body and leaning entirely on Amira. “This isn’t some random person who I just hooked up with, it’s _him _and he’s on a level no one else has ever been close to. What if I ruined years of friendship? What if we go through with something and it ends badly? I mean, you both know how he is.” His words from a few weeks ago came back to haunt him: David didn’t date people, he dated ideas. Matteo wasn’t his type of idea. But after last night...

“If it was ruined, it wouldn’t just be your fault. But I don’t think you ruined anything.” Amira comforted him, running her hands up and down his arm, Jonas was still playing in his hair. “And while we know how David is with relationships, it doesn’t mean that it will be like that with you.”

“Yeah!” Jonas agreed, “You’re David and Matteo, man! You’ll get through this, don’t worry. Just talk to him. When’s the next wedding?” The sureness of Jonas’s tone was a little too much and Jonas knew it, but he also knew it was working. 

Matteo groaned, “Two weeks.” 

“Okay, so you have two weeks to either meet up with him and talk about it or to decide what you want to say to him when you see him again,” Amira said.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be meeting up at all but I’m sure he’ll contact me before the wedding.” Matteo knew he wouldn’t be the one that would establish their first contact, not after today. “It’s for one of his friends and we’re supposed to be meeting Sara and Leonie the day we get there.” 

All the way back in college, he’d been holding back something he didn’t understand, confusing thoughts and emotions that made him stare at David trying to figure out what it was but missing it completely. A whole month going by with him not being sure what it was he felt, so he avoided his dorm as much as he could until he couldn’t anymore. When it really came down to it, David was the person who understood Matteo the most - even more than Jonas who he’d known almost his whole life. 

It was almost a shock when he realized that what he felt for David was more than friendship but by that point denying it had become second nature to both of them. So, when people would ask why they didn’t date, he would brush it off with a simple response or something silly. Some excuse that would get them to leave him alone. Even now, he wanted to dismiss his thoughts. Thoughts that he was shocked to find was still there, still burning as if ignoring it and pretending it wasn’t there, like it wasn’t happening, just fueled it.

Minutes spent in silence passed as Jonas and Amira stayed close to Matteo, only moving away when he told them he was feeling alright and that they should probably eat the pasta since it was rare that he cooked for them. He was feeling better, and he knew he’d have to think about what he would say to David but he already knew what needed to be said now and the thought terrified him. He wanted to go ahead with whatever this was with David if that’s what David wanted too, maybe even if he didn’t want that because he truly didn’t believe he could come back from this.

And although he never said it out loud, he did sometimes wonder how it would be to be with someone who understood him the way David did but as time passed and none of them made a move, Matteo realized he valued their friendship and the understanding and comfort he felt around him way more than whatever confusing feelings he had. 

But now they’d gone too far. “What am I supposed to do if I tell David I’m interested in seeing what happens with whatever this is and he’s not as keen...or worse, he does it out of pity?” If Jonas and Amira hadn’t already seen him at his absolute worse, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to say that out loud to them. He hated how soft his voice was, how it revealed his insecurities. He hated how he could feel the disappointment in his chest at the thought of being pitied.

But the thoughts of David being with him out of pity reminded him of one reason he never pushed it with David. They were both going through their own things throughout college. Matteo knew he needed someone but he didn’t know to what extent. David was there for him through everything and in return, so was he. 

On his good days, he’d convince himself that he and David would be great together but when it got bad, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being a burden to him. He was just figuring out the extent of his depression and learning healthy ways to deal with it and the thought of holding someone back - he just knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it. He could barely handle the _thought _of being a burden to David, not when David had so much to deal with himself.

When they noticed that Matteo needed a second to think things over, Jonas and Amira had moved on to a conversation about the current political climate, exchanging their similar opinions and happily eating Matteo’s stressed induced _pasta alla luigi _but then they both turned to look at him then look at each other with a confused look on their face. 

“Out of pity? Man, Matteo.” Jonas said when he turned to look back at him, a worried frown now on his lips. “I know I don’t know David as well as you do, but from what I’ve learned over the years - David would never do that. Not to you or anyone else, but especially not to you.”

“I won’t even entertain David doing something like that to someone, ever.” Amira began, she sounded offended just by the thought of it. “But, he’d be an actual _vollidiot _if he’s not interested in you and I say that with love,” Amira added, smiling widely. She raised up her drink in a toast and smiled at them both, “_Insha’Allah._”

Jonas raised his drink as well and nodded, “_Insha’Allah_,”

Matteo sighed and raised his, “Insha’lalala,” he said, earning him a grin and a kick from Amira. 

It was decided. He would tell David how he felt. 

***

**David **tried his best to not think of Matteo as he drove the 30 minutes it would take to get to his sister’s house. He listened to the music from his phone but the words kept reminding him of Matteo and so he moved on to a radio station that didn’t help either. Eventually, he was in complete silence and that was just as bad. His mind drifted to the night before and he felt his face instantly heat and he fidgeted in his seat, the dull ache between his legs reminding him even more of Matteo.

“Hey Siri, call Mohammed.” He called out to his phone that was sitting on the dashboard, clearing his throat when his words came out strained as he pulled his thoughts away from Matteo and he waited until he heard the call going through. It didn’t take long for Mohammed’s deep and calming voice to sound through his speakers and David’s shoulders relaxed at the familiarity. 

“David! How’s it going?” Mohammed said as a way of greeting and David groaned loudly, knowing that Mohammed would understand him. “Not so well, then?” He asked, chuckling. 

“Not so well at all,” David responded almost immediately. “Something happened, nothing life-threatening but I’m heading over to Laura’s to talk to her about it but I can’t focus and I needed someone to talk to.” 

“Why, Mr. Schreibner, am I just here as a listening ear?” Mohammed teased, laughing soon after. “Did you just call me just to _ use _ me because I’m _ such a good listener?_” 

“Whatever, you know what I mean.” David rolled his eyes, he knew that was coming. But he had to admit, “You are a great listener, though. I mean, you have to be a good listener when you work with kids and when you’re married.”

“Yeah,” Mohammed agreed, his tone soft with amusement but it quickly turned serious. “Actually, David, I was going to call you. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

David frowned, wondering what Mohammed would want to talk to him about. He ran through the different times he’d spoken to Mohammed the past few weeks and couldn’t think of anything that would require such a serious tone. Unless…

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Matteo,” Mohammed stated and David had to stop himself from groaning again. He’d wanted to talk to his friend to distract him from everything going on _with _Matteo but apparently, that would not happen now.

“Yeah?” David asked warily, not sure where he was going with this. There was no way Matteo would’ve already told Mohammed and Amira about this, he’d just left him! 

It took Mohammed a while to speak again as if he was thinking over what he wanted to say and with each passing second, David’s heart sped up at the suspense. But finally, he spoke, his tone soft and careful, worried, “How has he been?” 

David’s response was hesitant, unsure. “He’s been alright, I guess?” Did he miss something while he was with Matteo? Or maybe not pay enough attention to how he was doing with everything surrounding him? As far as he could tell, Matteo was fine. “Why? Is something wrong? Has he been missing dinners with you and Amira again?” David suddenly felt cold as he thought about how Matteo had been acting the entire weekend, trying to find something off about him but nothing was different except for what happened last night. 

“No,” Mohammed quickly responded, “no, Amira and I just worry that he’s been spending too much time alone.” He paused when he heard David breathe out in relief, “As far as we know, he’s okay. He’s been coming to dinner and hasn’t been acting any differently, but we’re just worried, you know?” 

David nodded even though he knew Mohammed couldn’t see him, “I understand.” 

“You two have been spending some time with each other and we figured that you would notice if anything was off with him. I know he was drinking a lot at Hanna and Jonas’s wedding but I don’t know if it’s something that’s been happening at all these weddings you have been going to.” 

Suddenly, David felt guilty. It was he that had encouraged Matteo to drink with him last night because he desperately needed the companionship but was he messing Matteo up by doing that? He had a tendency to overdo it when he was stressed, and as Matteo said - he was never one to say no to drinking. “Um,” David hesitated, “well, we drank last night. Not too much but enough that we were both tipsy. I asked him to drink with me.” He sighed, wondering how Mohammed would react.

“But you didn’t overdo it, right? Like you were both in your right mind most of the night?” 

“Well…” David grimaced as all the memories from last night rushed to his brain, setting his skin on fire as he remembered why he called Mohammed. “I would say we were both in our right mind but something happened. Nothing bad, though.” He quickly added the last words, not wanting to worry Mohammed any further.

He heard him sigh in relief and could tell that he would not push him further about whatever happened between them. “Okay,” Mohammed said, a smile clear in his voice, “I’m glad to hear it.” He paused and David guessed he was thinking his words over again. “We just worry since it’s not so good for Matteo to be alone, not all the time. And he was with Peter for _t__hree _years, that’s not something you bounce back from easily. No matter how shitty he was. We also didn’t want to annoy Matteo with this because we know he doesn’t like it when he feels like we’re coddling him.” 

David understood this. While most of them enjoyed their alone time, Matteo was the type who needed to be around people but wouldn’t push himself onto them if he felt like he was burdening them. He needed the sounds of an occupied house around him which is why he had a set date to have dinner with Amira and Mohammed every week. He needed the routine, needed to be around the people he trusted. David was once part of that routine but after Peter had come in the picture, he stepped back. 

“Actually, Mohammed,” David started and this time it was his turn to think over his words. “Matteo and I have been spending time together for weeks now,” 

Mohammed laughed, “Yes, I know about your wedding arrangement. Matteo’s told us all about it.” 

“No, I mean away from all of that. We’ve been hanging out, getting lunch and...and stuff.” 

“Stuff?”

“Yes…” David hesitated again, “stuff.” 

“Like what?” The curiosity was clear in his voice but once again, David knew he wouldn’t push. 

“Weslepttogether.” David blurted out, sure that he made little sense.

“You what?” Mohammed asked, confused.

“Matteo and I slept together. Last night.” 

The silence at the other end of the line was deafening and David tensed up and began tapping his thumb on the steering wheel as he waited for Mohammed to say something. Eventually, though, loud warm laughter came through his speakers and despite being annoyed that he was being laughed at, David felt his shoulders relax again. “This is _ not _ funny, Mohammed!” He scoffed, but he couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Mohammed apologized as he calmed himself. “It’s just - it’s been so many _ years _ we were almost losing hope.” 

“Hope? Hope for what?”

“That you two would get together. That you’d finally realize that you were perfect for each other.” 

David rolled his eyes again, taking the turn that would bring him right to Laura’s. “That - that seems a little too extreme. We are not perfect for each other, we just hooked up, that’s all...” 

Mohammed laughed again, “Are you asking me or telling me?”

“You know what, I’m at Laura’s now. I’ll call you later.” David groaned again when he heard Mohammed laugh once more before he bid him farewell and hung up.

He was more confused now than he was before he called Mohammed. 

While he parked his car and made his way up to his sister’s place, he thought up every reason he and Matteo would never work. This would’ve been effective if he wasn’t also countering all his reasons with reasons they _would _work. This was Matteo, after all. Someone who knew him completely. 

Sighing, David took a second to send his sister a text, letting her know he was on his way up before he took the steps two at a time, desperate to hear his sister’s thoughts about his current situation. She’d met Matteo a few times, enough to form an opinion about him but it had been a while since she last saw him so enough time might have passed for her to not react the same way his friends did, at least he hoped that was the case. 

Upon entering his sister’s place, David kicked off his shoes and threw his keys in the trinket dish by the door before rushing into the living room and throwing himself onto the sofa. 

“Good afternoon to you too,” Laura, who was reading at the end of the sofa where David’s head landed close to her lap, greeted him in a deadpan tone and he could tell that she rolled her eyes at his dramatics. 

“I hate you,” David’s words came out muffled, and he heard Laura snort in response. 

“And what, do tell, am I being hated for?” 

David lifted his head and glared at her, “You didn’t come to the wedding-”

Now he saw her roll her eyes, and she was quick to defend herself, “David, oh my god. Do _not _start. You know you deserved that!” 

David groaned loudly and pushed himself up into a sitting position at the other end of the sofa so he could stretch his legs out, although the sofa itself wasn’t huge, it provided enough space that he wasn’t too much in Laura’s spot while he got comfortable. “Okay yes, I deserved it!” He quickly conceded, before fixing Laura with a serious look and watched as she closed her book, her brows furrowing.

“What happened? Did dad say something to you? Or Gina?” She straightened up, already reaching for her phone to give their father a call if she needed to. 

“No, no!” David blurted, “It has nothing to do with them. Well, he asked me to be his best man, but that’s for another time.” 

“He asked you to be his best man? Gina asked me to be one of her bridesmaids!” Laura grimaced. 

“Do you not want to be a bridesmaid?” 

“Not really but I’m guessing you don’t want to be the best man?”

“Nope.”

“And you’re doing it, anyway?”

“More than likely.”

“Well, I suppose we’ll both just be doing things we don’t want to do that day.” Laura shrugged and changed the subject, “Anyway, so why do you hate me?”

“You not being there caused me to do something very, very irresponsible.” 

“Oh, no!” Laura gasped loudly, her hands going up to her cheeks in mock surprise, “Perfect David messed up? I don’t believe it!”

“_Laura.”_ David whined, “I slept with Matteo and now everything is fucked up.” 

It seemed as if Laura would continue mocking him, but at his words, her mouth snapped shut and she stared at him with an expression he didn’t understand. “Matteo?” She asked eventually, tilting her head the way he usually did. 

“Yes, Matteo.”

“Matteo Florenzi your best friend?” 

“Yes,” David sighed.

“Matteo Florenzi, the boy you’ve known since college that you spent almost every day with and who you almost moved in with after college? _ That _Matteo Florenzi?” She asked, tapping her chin.

David, confused, mirrored her tilted head as a frown slowly formed on his lips, “Yes?” He muttered and then sighed, “Where are you going with this?”

“Where are _ you _ going with this, David?” 

“I’m confused.” 

Laura sighed and tried again. “What do you mean everything is fucked up? What happened?”

So David told her what happened, even the embarrassing parts. He couldn’t help the blush that appeared on his cheeks when he told her about their rendezvous in the graveyard and while she listened intently, he noticed her lips twitch and her eyes widen when he mentioned it but she kept her comments to herself. 

While he spoke, he tried not to think about how Matteo looked in the moonlight. How, despite the lack of light, he could see how flushed his skin was and how much he enjoyed the sight of it. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he continued on into this morning and what happened there, ignoring the soreness and the memory of Matteo on top of him that came with it. 

“And just now when I dropped him off, he couldn’t even look at me.” He sighed, looking down at his fidgeting fingers. “I’m just confused by it all. I don’t know what he’s thinking because he barely spoke to me and then I made it awkward by hugging him and then he brushed it off like it was nothing.” David took a deep breath and looked over at his sister, “Tell me what to do?”

“Didn’t you like Matteo, at one point?” Laura asked him, her tone soft. 

“Never thought about it.” 

“Don’t lie, David.” 

“Okay, so I’ve thought about it.” He paused and rubbed his face, looking away from her. “In the beginning, I thought maybe. We spent so much time together, you know? And after our second meeting, it felt like the universe was pulling us together. We’d never met each other before but somehow we had the same friends, had probably passed each other at some point. Mohammed, Amira, Essam, or Omar might have mentioned him and I never knew it was _him_. And after all of that, I hoped something would happen but when it came to one of us making a move, well obviously none of us did.” 

“Until last night?” She asked.

“Until last night.” 

“What changed?” 

A sad smile formed on his lips and David finally looked at her again, “He’s single for the first time in 3 years.” And then a thought came to his mind, and he felt his heart sink. 

Laura looked at him, startled by whatever expression was on his face. “What is it?”

“What if I was a rebound?” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words any louder than a whisper. The thought of being something so simple to Matteo, he didn’t like it. 

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Laura replied quickly, he didn’t even have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. “You don’t rebound with your best friend, not when you’re the best friends you two appear to be.” 

“What kind of best friends do we appear to be, Laura?” 

“You both have been there for each other through everything, right? Ever since you were, what, 19? Throughout the surgery, your dysphoria, his depression and everything else you’ve gone through, Matteo has been a constant for you and you a constant for him.” Laura moved closer to David and reached out for one of his hands, knowing he needed the comfort even though he wouldn’t ask for it. 

“He’s been there for things that I probably know nothing about and I know I don’t know him very well, but from what I’ve seen, you two used to be like this.” She crossed her fingers, giving him a soft smile. “Has something changed?”

David was stunned, unsure of what to respond to but choosing to go with the most important first. “I’ll always be there for Matteo.” There was no question about it, no matter how much it annoyed him sometimes or even if he had to go out of his way to be there for him, he always would. Or at least he would try his best to. “I haven’t really been there for him the last 3 years, though,” David admitted, unable to hide the shame in his voice. 

“Well, he had a boyfriend for the last 3 years. I don’t want to assume anything, but I don’t think he wanted 2 boyfriends.” Laura teased and squeezed his hand.

“What?!” David scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Shut up.” 

Laura laughed and got up, patting his shoulder as if to say, _ Well there you go_, and disappearing into the kitchen. “Let’s watch some movies, yeah?” She called out and he could hear her moving around and getting the snacks prepared. He knew she was giving him time to think about what he’ll do and had probably already guessed what he would do but David was grateful for the moment alone.

It had been years since he allowed himself to think of Matteo this way, but it seems the thoughts snuck through without him noticing. These last few weeks with Matteo took him back to how they used to be before Matteo found someone for himself and David desperately went looking for _the one _for him. 

Could it be Matteo? Could it be that the person he’d been searching for was in front of him the whole time? He remembered Matteo’s bright laughter this morning when they were waiting for their cab to pick them up, how it made the brightness of the morning seem dull compared to it. 

He rolled his eyes at himself, already hearing Matteo scoff at his thoughts. _ What a fucking cliche, _he would say. And he would be right.

There were so many things about Matteo that David enjoyed and the thought of being with him and holding his hand, leaning on him, falling asleep with him, things they already did together but would take on more meaning if they were actually _together _ \- the thoughts were so nice. He wanted it to be real. 

David thought back to when Matteo wanted to cuddle in bed and how against it he was, how the thought of Matteo holding him was just _too much_. There were things before that kept them apart. Matteo’s depression, David’s surgery taking up so much emotional space and the guilt of burdening Matteo with any more of his stuff was too heavy. 

But, Laura was right, at one point he wanted to move in with Matteo but he’d waited too long and Jonas had asked him so David moved back in with his sister until everything was settled with his job. They barely saw each other and then suddenly Matteo had a boyfriend and his name was Peter and they were living together. It all went too fast. It was just easier for David to pretend that friendship was all he wanted and he did so well with it that, eventually; he believed it. 

David sighed and looked over at Laura when she came back into the room and began to set everything down that she brought in. He hurried and helped her, grabbing the wine bottle and the glasses unsure of how she even brought them in there with her hands so full. 

“What are we watching?” She asked him when she settled herself on the sofa. They’d turn the lights off and closed the windows so the room felt more like a theater than a small living room with the Summer sun shining brightly outside. They both had their respective blankets, saved especially for moments like these when one of them needed to be distracted, and Laura was scrolling through the movie options. 

“Pretty Woman?” He offered, needing something hopeful.

“Sure and then we can follow it up with Runaway Bride and just watch romcoms until we can’t take it anymore,” Laura added, grinning at him and clicking on Pretty Woman. It had been a while since he’d spent time with Laura like this, with wedding season taking over his weekends and spending more time with Matteo during the week. He grabbed a bowl and a glass of wine and settle himself in as the movie began. 

He felt calmer now, resolved. He would talk to Matteo and they would decide together what would happen. He knew he wanted to try with him, no matter how cliche their entire situation was. He was sure Matteo wouldn’t contact him before the next wedding, knew exactly how he was when he tried to avoid things he needed to deal with but he was okay with it because Matteo never said he wasn’t coming. 

Matteo was his best friend but David couldn’t stop thinking about him being more. He would not pretend he felt nothing for him, there were no excuses now. Not after last night. They would see each other again in a few weeks and David hoped Matteo would feel the same. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- So they both secretly liked each other but held back! How about that? In the movie, this wasn't explicitly stated, but it's something I like to think happened and I couldn't avoid the romanticism of it.  
\- As always, let me know what you think!  
\- If you wanted to know, the song Matteo listens to in the beginning of the chapter is “La Verdad by La Bien Querida” and tbh when I heard it for the first time, I wanted to cry. It is SUCH a Davenzi song y’all.  
\- We now have an official chapter count! 10 Chapters! I've got an outline for the rest and hopefully, I won't take long to update again, definitely not as long as I did with this chapter lol see y'all on the next one!


	7. In a Good Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Once again, I'm so sorry for it being so late. I've got no good excuses but I do hope you enjoy this chapter!  
\- Thank you so much for the comments! The fact that people actually look forward to this being updated is so nice and I'm so grateful y'all don't even know lol  
\- Also, wanna let y'all know I'll be changing the name of this fic to just "Plus One" since the AU bit is obvious when you read the summary and the tags lol  
\- They’re supposed to be in Hawaii but I thought it was dumb to fly all the way from Germany to Hawaii for one wedding so I’ll just leave the location to your imagination lol

“Hey. What’s up?” 

“Uh, I was just calling because I forgot when your flight was getting in.”

“Like, 3 o’clock.”

“Cool. Thursday?”

“Friday. I’ve got therapy on Thursday, can’t miss it.”

“Right.”

“Yeah, uh, I’ll see you there.”

“Have a good one.” _ What the fuck? _ “Actually, Matteo -” He heard the line click, “okay, you’re gone.” 

David sighed, resting his head on his phone and pushing away the embarrassment he felt. It was so nice to hear Matteo’s voice after a week and a half of no contact. It wasn’t long, but lately, even a few days without Matteo felt like a lot. 

Matteo had done exactly what David had expected him to do - avoid the situation until he absolutely had to deal with it. Unfortunately, David was just as stubborn. 

The next wedding was for his friends Dave and Julia and even though the wedding wouldn’t be until Saturday, David had already moved his flight to Wednesday and was planning on staying there way past the wedding, if Matteo said yes. Maybe even if he didn’t; he couldn’t possibly get on a plane with Matteo if he rejected him. 

The closer it got to him seeing Matteo, though, the more restless he felt. He’d been to Laura’s every day after work since _that _day and he could tell that she was getting annoyed at him. 

“Just call him,” Laura groaned when David began to tap his pencil against his sketchbook. He was supposed to be drawing, supposed to be distracting himself. But then his drawing had taken the form of the person that was on his mind and he had to look away. From a _ drawing_. It had been too long in the silence. There were no insta stories, nothing in the group chat with all the boys, nothing from Mohammed or Amira except friendly conversation. What the hell was he doing? Why couldn’t he give him a hint as to where his mind was?

Laura was encouraging him to call, to take the first step but he couldn’t. Why wasn’t she getting it? David couldn’t call Matteo now, not since their last conversation where Matteo had dismissed their night together.

“I don’t think you understand how much I _ can’t _ do that.” He’d told her and he didn’t even have to look at her to see that she rolled her eyes, he could practically hear it. 

“You know what?” He suddenly said, “I don’t like the vibes of your house, it’s blocking my artistic abilities - I’m just gonna go home.” 

“Yeah, okay. Let me know how it goes with Matteo, idiot.” Laura shook her head at him, a smile playing at her lips even though she was doing her best to frown at him. “And don’t you ever insult the vibes in my house, again.” She warned him when she followed him to the door and he rolled his eyes before giving her a hug and leaving. 

So here he was, on a plane days before Matteo was due to arrive, staring at his phone and thinking about how soft Matteo’s voice was. How hesitant. And even though they barely spoke, at least David knew one thing: Matteo would be there. 

A few days later, David was leaning on a metal fence, the only thing keeping him separated from the water crashing against the rocks below, and taking in the view to distract himself. It was half-past 3 and Matteo’s plane had already landed and it was like David could feel him getting closer as the minutes passed. 

He’d already ridden in the taxi that would bring him to the hotel the wedding was being held, already knew what Matteo would be seeing as he made his way here and he had a rough idea of when he would get here. But the nerves seemed to have piled into his stomach, sending weird feelings throughout his body the more he thought about finally seeing Matteo. 

As he watched the water, his thoughts drifted to the wonderful blue of Matteo’s eyes and the way his hair never seemed to stay neat no matter how much he tried. He thought about his voice again and how soft it was when they’d spoken on Monday and how much he wanted to see the lazy smile that Matteo wore whenever they spoke and how-

“Don’t be afraid!” A familiar voice came from his right, yanking David out of his thoughts, bringing him back to the reality of Matteo. 

“You little shit!” David heard himself saying and he turned to push Matteo, rolling his eyes as he watched Matteo laugh at him, his cheeks red. He was wearing those fucking sunglasses again.

“David? David Schreibner?” Matteo said after he calmed down, his tone was incredulous and high enough that it cracks just a little, ignoring the flutter in his stomach at the sight of David’s wide grin. 

“Matteo Florenzi? Is that you?!” David responded, catching onto Matteo’s ruse with ease. 

“Ha! Oh, god this is crazy!” Matteo exclaimed, keeping the same tone and mirroring his wide grin. 

“Is that you?” David wondered if they looked as dumb as they sounded but he kept going anyway, grateful for Matteo’s distraction. Of course, he would make a joke first.

“How long has it been?!”

“Oh, it has been _foreve__r_! Oh, my God, I love what you’ve done with your hair!”

“Oh, thank you. Yes.” Matteo reached up and patted his messy hair, knowing exactly how it looked because he could never actually get it to sit still. “Your facelift is horrifying, though.”

David reached up and pulled the skin on his face back, making it as horrifying as he could and unable to keep the smile off his face that he was sure made it worse. “Oh, my god. Thank you so much! I can’t move my face.” He said, his voice muffled.

They grinned at each other and Matteo was glad that they could joke, even if it was a little awkward.

Upon seeing David gazing at the water, his hair blowing in the wind, his cheeks red after being in the sun for however long he was standing there, and his dark outfit with gold flowers scattered about, Matteo knew he had 2 choices now that he was here. Either he would continue with the silent treatment, in which both of them lost because he missed David the entire time, or make a joke to break the ice and see what would happen after that. He chose the latter, of course.

“Let’s take your bag up?” David suggested and reached down to get his bag before he could say anything else, leading the way to the hotel.

The walk to their room wasn’t the most comfortable, but it wasn’t as awkward as the ride home 2 weeks ago and definitely not as bad as the phone call from the other day when Matteo was caught completely off guard. 

They kept sneaking glances at each other and Matteo was glad for his sunglasses, which he’d only pulled over his eyes when he was watching David from the taxi all flustered and shy, completely losing all the nerve he’d built up on the plane ride here.

“Here we are!” David announced when they got to the door for their room and he wondered if Matteo could tell that he was nervous. He moved away from the door so he could go in first and he heard Matteo gasp loudly, the sound bringing a smile to his face.

“This is a fucking--” Matteo was looking around the room, his body rooted in one spot as he took it all in. Sunglasses finally off and comfortably resting on his head keeping his messy hair pushed back. “It’s huge!”

David watched as he almost passed the bedroom, only to turn back and walk-in. “Look at this big room!” Matteo threw himself backward onto the bed and sighed. “So comfy!”

Lifting his head, he looked over at David who was leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed and a smile on his face. Matteo didn’t understand his expression. “You can’t afford this.”

“Oh, we’re splitting it.”

Matteo snorted and pushed himself off the bed, “Okay, yeah. We’ll see about that.” 

He slipped past David, knowing he should point out the fact that there was only one bed in the room but not wanting to yet. David booked the room so of course, he knew what he was getting. But what was he playing at?

Instead, he brought up the little ice bucket with a champagne bottle sticking out of it that he’d noticed when they walked in but only just paid attention to it. It seemed...romantic? “Did you do this?” He asked, turning to look at David in surprise, his voice coming out softer than he intended.

David smiled sheepishly and shrugged, wondering what Matteo was thinking and wishing he was brave enough to ask, but his stomach hadn’t stopped buzzing since he saw him.

“Okay,” Matteo muttered, humming to himself before moving on to look at the view from the balcony, which he already knew was David’s favorite part of the room. “Oh, my god! This is fuck—”

David watched him put his glasses back on and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“This is _incredibl__e_. Look at this.” Matteo took in the sight of the water, felt the breeze on his skin as he moved to touch the hedge that surrounded the balcony that gave them privacy but a good view, too. David was beside him now and he chuckled softly at his reactions.

“So, how have you been?” David asked when it got quiet.

“So fuckin’ awesome,” Matteo responded, almost instantly, and he wanted to punch himself. “You?”

“Good,” David responded, “I’ve been crazy busy.”

Matteo nodded, “Oh yeah. Totally.” He didn’t believe David for a second, but it wasn’t like he was being honest either. The last two weeks were filled with him waiting for David to call him, to give him some kind of hint of where he was at with his feelings towards him, and then panicking when he actually did call. When he’d gone to dinner with Amira and Mohammed, they thought it was hilarious.

David pushed his hands into his pockets and looked away. A few seconds passed in silence before he turned to Matteo again. “I told Leonie and Sara I’d meet them by the pool in a little bit. You’re welcome to come if you want.” He reached up and scratched the back of his head and quickly added, “Or, uh, you can just stay here and get yourself situated? I know you had a long flight.” 

There was no way Matteo was gonna miss a chance to hang out with David right now. Matteo hummed and nodded, “Yeah, I think I’ll just hang back and _ situate- _ well, fuck you, I’m coming.” He rolled his eyes and pushed David’s shoulder, walking back into the room, and hearing him chuckle as he followed behind him.

***

“No. It was just really simple. It was kind of out of nowhere,” Sara was saying, a fond smile on her lips. “And she was like, _ ‘do you want to get married?’ _”

“Wait,” Matteo said, “Costco? Like, the warehouse place?” He asked.

Sara nodded, grinning, “Yes!”

“That is amazing,” Matteo responded, an impressed smile on his lips. He glanced over at David, who seemed a bit scandalized at the information because of course, he did. 

They’d walked in silence to the outdoor restaurant, Matteo with his sunglasses on until it was too impolite to keep them on and David keeping his distance with his hands clenched in his pockets because he wanted nothing more than to reach for Matteo’s hand. They’d held hands before, but this time it would be different and they kept sneaking glances at each other but not saying anything. It didn’t feel like the right moment. Not yet.

Which is why now they were sitting next to each other, almost a foot apart, and doing their best to not seem awkward.

But it was there in the air, like electricity. Matteo could feel it and so could David. 

They were like magnets. Before it wouldn’t be surprising if Matteo was leaning on David or vice versa, because that was a thing that just happened almost always, but just like the hand holding - it would be different now. So, on the surface, they kept as cool as ever. Just two guys, who had sex with each other in a graveyard and are completely avoiding the conversation, enjoying time with their friends. No one would know.

“Are you guys talking shit about me again?” Leonie asked as she sat down and handed Sara her drink.

“No,” Sara said, her smile wide. “We’re talking about your proposal to me.”

“Yeah. Uh, Costco, Leonie?” David asked, furrowing his brows.

“Hell yeah, Costco.” She responded, grinning widely.

“Real romantic,” David scoffed, but he was smiling.

“Who gives a fuck? When did we all decide that _this_,” She gestured at the view and the patio they were sitting at that was lined with tables and umbrellas, “was necessary? I mean, I love Dave and Julia, but why did we all have to fly the fuck out for this?”

“I mean, it’s ver--, it’s nice here.” Matteo offered and he could feel David’s eyes on him. Was he acting weird?

“No, but Leonie has a point.” David interjected, “This is way less special than a grocery…emporium? What do you call a Costco?” He teased.

“Oh, my God. Who cares?” Sara half-shouted, rolling her eyes. “O-ver-think-ing- it.” She said, clapping as she spoke.

“Yes. That’s true. That’s true.” Matteo agreed, laughing at Sara’s response. “Especially…” He continued, reaching over to pat David’s leg a little too rough. “this little man.” He ignored the way touching David’s almost bare leg made him feel. He wondered briefly why David was wearing something so short but he couldn’t linger on that for too long otherwise he’d have a new problem.

“That one,” Sara said at the same time, taking a sip of her drink, and pointing at David.

“Oh, he’s the worst of the worst.” Leonie agreed.

Leonie’s voice was teasing, but David couldn’t help how his body tensed up. He didn’t like where this was going.

“Wait,” Sara said suddenly, “Leonie, remember, uh, Sally Klum?”

“Klumshot!” Leonie quickly responded.

David glanced over at Matteo, who was grinning now that they were teasing him.

“Klumshot?” He asked, his eyebrows raised as he turned to look over at David.

“No, no,” David quickly said, leaning away from Matteo, but doing his best to look as casual as possible and not at all embarrassed. “We’re not telling this story.”

“No, we _are _telling this story,” Matteo said, looking expectantly at Leonie and Sara. “When was this?” He asked them, glancing over at David.

“Three years ago, maybe?” Leonie said, looking over at Sara who nodded.

“Yeah, right around the time Amira got married, actually!”

Matteo looked over at David, he noticed he looked tense but he didn’t know why and David wouldn’t look at him now, he only had an amused smile on his face that was aimed at the others and whatever they were going to tell him. 

Three years ago, that was when he started dating Peter and their friendship had taken a back seat. It was still weird for Matteo when he’s told things about David he didn’t know before, especially since he used to be the one that knew everything about him. 

“Anyway, it’s a David Schreibner classic,” Sara said, leaning forward excitedly. “we have to tell it.” 

Leonie nodded, “So, their name was Sally Klum.” She began, completely amused and ignoring David’s sounds of protest.

“Klumshot,” Sara repeated.

“Sara called them Klumshot for no reason,” David explained, giving up already. There was no fighting Sara and Leonie, especially when they worked together. It was a guaranteed failure and he was already going to look like an ass when they finished telling it.

“Uh, ‘cause it’s funny,” Sara responded and Leonie reached over and patted her leg in agreement.

“It _ is _ funny.” Matteo agreed, looking over at David and noticing that his cheeks were already pink and his lips were pressed together in...embarrassment? Annoyance? He couldn’t tell.

“Anyway, they were wonderful! So fun!” Leonie continued, “And then David dumped them after 3 weeks because he, and I quote,” she cleared her throat, pursed her lips to make them look smaller, and did the best imitation of David that she could, “_couldn’t make them laugh_.”

“_They weren’t responding to my humor_,” Sara joined in, her imitation sounding more like a robot than anything but it was still funny and a little accurate.

“Wooow!” Matteo said, dragging out the word as he watched David lean forward to pick up his cup, noticing the pink tinge of his ears now.

David knew they were kidding, especially since this was something that they would tease him about a lot, just like Matteo did. It was one thing to have his relationship woes teased when he didn’t care what Matteo thought about it, it was something completely different now. He wanted to talk to Matteo, to try something new with him but now he was afraid that this would turn Matteo off from anything he would offer. He tried to gauge whatever it was Matteo was feeling about the story but he was just laughing. Was that good or bad? It wasn’t like Matteo didn’t already tease him about this stuff, he just didn’t think he’d be reminded of it when he’d been preparing to put himself out there to him soon.

“Okay, first of all,” David began after he took a big gulp of his drink, using it as an opportunity to quickly glance at Matteo, “I _ don’t _ have a tiny little mouth-”

He was cut off by them continuing to mock the way he definitely didn’t speak and Matteo was enjoying the entire thing, playing along as well.

“It’s the only way I can do your voice,” Leonie told him while Sara and Matteo continued, Sara making Matteo laugh loudly at the way she pursed her lips.

“Okay, okay, hold on-” David said, but he was cut off by Matteo adding his own David imitation to the game.

His face was scrunched up and he lowered his voice a little, pursing his lips as Leonie and Sara had and said, “_No one makes me laugh_,” which set them off again.

David wanted to be annoyed but he secretly enjoyed watching Matteo interact with his friends, even though he knew Sara and Leonie before David did, they were always more his friends than Matteo’s and it was rare that they would ever spend any time together. If they ever did, it was accidental and Matteo would usually bolt as soon as he could. And he had to be honest, the imitation wasn’t that bad. 

“That’s kinda close,” David said and Matteo beamed at the recognition but quickly looked away. “Can I clarify?” David asked, turning to the others and they nodded, knowing whatever he said would be bullshit but listening anyway because they were his friends. “Sally _didn’t _have a sense of humor. We couldn’t laugh together.”

Leonie was quick to respond, “O-ver-think-ing- it.” She said, clapping along just as Sara did, and Matteo and Sara joined in just as quick.

“You’re doing it now?” David asked Matteo, feigning betrayal but unable to hide his amusement. He couldn’t even _pretend _to be annoyed.

“Yeah,” Matteo responded, smirking, “I’m part of them now.”

“O-ver-think-ing- it.” They said together and David laughed.

“I love him,” Sara said to David when they calmed down, shifting closer to Leonie when she placed her arm around her shoulder. “He’s great!”

Leonie hummed in agreement, “So, what is this? What’s going on with you two?” 

“What?” Matteo asked, caught off guard.

“What-what about us?” David stammered, glancing at Matteo to gauge his reaction but seeing nothing but confusion.

“Well, you have ridiculous vibes and you’re acting weird about it.” Sara pointed out.

“Don’t,” David began, closing his eyes. “don’t do this.” 

Matteo turned away, covering his eyes with one hand but unable to keep the embarrassing smile off of his face. _ Of course, _ they were giving off weird vibes and _of course, _ they would notice it.

“Do what?” Leonie asked innocently.

“What are we doing?” Sara blinked, feigning obliviousness.

Matteo scratched the back of his neck, the first to speak up, “Yeah,” he said, “We’re- we’re friends. That’s it.” He was surprised at how easy the words came out but he supposed that he’s said them enough times that it’s almost second nature to decline anything like that at this point.

David mortified but amused, watched Sara and Leonie’s reaction as he let Matteo do the talking.

They stared at them, their eyes moving from one to the other before glancing at each other and laughing out loud.

Matteo frowned, confused. “What?”

“You’ve fucked,” Leonie stated bluntly. 

“Oh, my God,” David muttered, looking away and pinching the bridge of his nose at her bluntness.

“You fucked?” Sara asked, her eyebrows raised like she didn’t already know the answer.

Matteo’s mouth fell open in shock and he couldn’t hold back the surprised laugh that escaped as he watched them start to sing and do a little dance.

“_They fucked, they fucked, they really really fucked, _” Leonie and Sara sang, clapping their hands while ignoring David’s embarrassed groaning. He was gonna have to get new friends as soon as possible. 

“Oh, my God,” Matteo repeated David’s words and covered his face, knowing it was red and he couldn’t hide it. 

After Leonie and Sara calmed down, they told them they would leave them to figure out whatever they needed to before walking away, hand in hand, and giggling to themselves. 

Matteo and David had gotten up from their seats, awkwardly glancing at each other before looking away. 

At least the walk back meant they’d get a nice view of the water and neither of them was complaining about the breeze either. 

Matteo was the first to speak up, “It’s so nice here.” He said, turning his head to smile softly at David. They needed to talk, even if it was about nothing because any more of this uncertain silence would send Matteo into a frenzy. 

“I know,” David responded, his smile teasing, “I think we can safely say that my friends’ weddings are better than yours.”

Teasing, okay. This was familiar territory. “You know, it’s not a competition, David.” Matteo scolded him but rolled his eyes. He appreciated the joke. 

“Yeah,” David said but before he could say anything else they both heard David’s phone buzzing in his pocket. He stopped to pull it out and silence it, and Matteo noticed him frowning when he saw the name on the screen. 

Matteo stopped walking. “Everything okay?” He turned to him and asked, worried but not wanting to pry.

“Yeah, yeah.” David wanted to change the subject, move on to something different that wouldn’t require him to talk about something that upset him. But then he looked at Matteo, and he just told the truth. “Just my dad.”

Matteo nodded, understanding. “Are you still mad at him?” He asked.

“I’m not mad,” David sighed and looked away, “I just...I don’t know.” He paused and looked at Matteo again, “I don’t know what to tell him about this best man thing.”

“Why don’t you just be like, ‘Yeah, Dad. Sounds great. Let’s hug now.’?” Matteo offered, he was going to do his signature David voice but changed his mind. Now was not the time.

David chuckled, looking away, “Okay.”

Matteo ran his fingers through his hair, pushing back the strands that had fallen over his eyes and holding them in place with his sunglasses. He licked his lips nervously as he watched as David looked over the shore like he was doing when he’d driven up earlier. His brown skin did so well in weather like this and Matteo watched as the wind blew through his thick curls. He had to look away.

David cleared his throat and turned to look at Matteo again, deciding, on the spot, that it would be now or never. “Uh, hey.” He began but when Matteo’s blue eyes expectantly met his, he backed out. “You have an eyelash there,” David blurted instead and he wanted to punch himself. He knew Matteo probably thought he was gonna say something important, he could feel it, but he needed a moment to be brave. 

“Huh?” Matteo frowned and reached up to where David was gesturing. He looked back up at David who was just staring at him. “Am I allowed to make a wish now?” Matteo asked him, a small smile replacing the confused frown. 

“No idea,” David said, sighing. Matteo’s blue eyes were so distracting and he felt like they could see right through his weakness. Right at his hesitation at broaching the subject. 

“I thought one would be allowed to make a wish now,” Matteo continued and it was obvious he was doing this for David’s sake. 

David sighed again, annoyed at himself. “It was just an eyelash.” 

Matteo nodded, confused at the dismissal, and looked away. “Okay,” He murmured. 

David wondered if he’d ruined the moment, it felt like he did with how discouraged Matteo looked now. “What would have been your wish, though?” He asked, hoping Matteo would accept his olive branch. 

Matteo turned to look at David and shrugged, “No idea.”

David nodded, knowing he deserved that. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke up again. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the last wedding.” He began, “What, um, what happened and the, uh, the activities that we- we engaged in and --”

Matteo laughed out loud, amazed at how much David was struggling. 

“What?” David asked him, confused at his reaction and trying his best not to be hurt by it.

“No, I’m sorry, it’s just,” Matteo continued to laugh, shaking his head at the situation, at how tense everything had suddenly gotten.

“What?” David asked again, impatient but smiling now.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it, too,” Matteo admitted, groaning after the words left his lips. 

“In a good way?” David asked.

“Yes.” He responded quickly, tensing up when he realized that he’d left himself vulnerable. “You too? In a good way?” He asked David, making sure.

David started swaying in one spot, doing his best to keep the smile off his face and instead put on a face of contemplation as he looked at Matteo’s nervous eyes, just to make him wait for a bit since he laughed at him when he was stuttering through his words.

“David!” Matteo shouted, knowing exactly what David was doing. “You?” 

And he couldn’t help it anymore, a wide smile spread across his face and he nodded, “Yeah,” He said, the word sounding so quiet. 

Matteo’s returning smile was just as wide, “Okay,” He said, mirroring Davids swaying.

“Alright,” David said, happily.

“Alright,” Matteo responded, softly.

They turned, heading back to the hotel room with smiles on both their faces. Their hands brushed together and Matteo wanted to reach out and grab it, nothing was stopping him now. They were on good terms, on the same page. But then David turned to him, suddenly serious and Matteo felt a jolt go through his body. 

And then David took off, Matteo following behind him almost immediately when he caught on and laughing loudly. The run to their hotel wasn’t long and thankfully, Matteo didn’t trip this time, and when they got there they had to stop but Matteo grabbed onto David’s hand then, lacing their fingers together as they speed-walked to the second floor.

As soon as they got there, David pushed Matteo against the door and pressed a kiss to his lips. Matteo wrapped his arms around David’s shoulders, pulling his body against his and it was just like he remembered it but so much better. 

David struggled to open the door but as soon as they got inside, he quickly pulled Matteo’s shirt off and pushed him against the wall again, placing his hand behind his head to make sure he didn't hit it. Matteo turned them around and put his knee between David’s legs pushing it against David, reveling in the sound David makes at the pressure. 

“Oh, I missed you,” David breathed against his lips and it sends a jolt through Matteo’s body.

“Did you?” Matteo asked, pulling away slightly to look at him but David chases his lips and kisses him again. “Wait, wait,” Matteo said, pulling away. “Why haven’t we hung out?”

“You didn’t ask me,” David said simply and began pressing kisses along Matteo’s jaw and then down his neck.

“_You _didn’t ask me,” Matteo responded, rolling his eyes but shifting to give him more access, biting his lip when he felt David lick a spot and then bite down.

“I told you I was busy,” David pointed out and Matteo scoffed at him.

“No, you weren’t.” He said, pulling away again and rolling his eyes.

“What?” David asked, amused.

“You were scared,” Matteo teased him, turning them around and walking them toward the bed, making sure they wouldn’t trip over anything on the way. “Yeah, you were a scared little bitch, right?” Matteo murmured against David’s mouth.

David laughed out loud and pressed a kiss to his lips, turning them around again to push him into the room and then onto the bed. He watched as Matteo looked him over while licking his lips before pulling him towards him and running his hands over his body, kissing him sloppily while he fumbled with the buttons. 

After a few seconds, Matteo groaned and pulled away. “What is this outfit?” He asked, looking David up and down and frowning. 

“It’s a romper,” David said, impatient and going in for another kiss.

“How does it work?” Matteo asked, confused and pulling away further to inspect the outfit. All the buttons were unbuttoned but there was nowhere to lift? 

David groaned, “Just get it off!” 

“Tell me where!” 

Groaning again, David reached up and pushed the sleeves off his shoulder, raising his eyebrows at Matteo. “Get. it. Off.” He said to him, wanting Matteo to finish ridding him of his clothes, which he now hated that he wore in the first place, and Matteo happily took over.

  
***

The next morning, David woke up to Matteo curled against his chest and his chest swelled at how normal it felt - like they’d been doing this forever. He ran his fingers through Matteo’s hair, marveling at how soft it was even though he was sure Matteo did next to nothing to his hair. He wanted to laugh at how they ended up after years of just being friends, of denying everything everyone said to them about them. He watched Matteo some more, took in his slightly flushed cheeks and peaceful expression and fear washed over him, just for a second, but it was enough to get him out of bed. 

He moved as slowly as he could from under Matteo so he wouldn’t wake him and padded over to the bathroom, grabbing his underwear on the way. He heard Matteo groan at the loss of heat but he couldn’t look at him, not right now and he didn’t understand why. 

David allowed himself to calm down and after a few minutes, he returned to the bed and snuggled next to Matteo, smiling when Matteo’s whole body was on him within seconds. _ This is good, _he thought and he wondered briefly why it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Later on, David woke up officially and went to take a shower before he woke Matteo so he could start getting ready too. While getting dressed, he couldn’t help the smile on his face. He was glad for everything that happened the day before, glad that he woke up in a bed that was messy from _ Matteo _sleeping next to him. 

When David finished his shower, he discovered that Matteo, always the foodie, had ordered them breakfast before he’d gone to shower. More specifically he’d ordered them lunch since they’d slept in because the wedding wasn’t until the afternoon.

“Hey, David,” Matteo said, sticking only his head out of the bedroom door a few seconds after David heard the water stop.

“What?” David said around a mouth full of bread.

Matteo smiled fondly at him, looking him over and watching as his cheeks turned red before continuing, “I don’t want to alarm you…” He teased.

“What?” David asked again, this time more clearly. 

Matteo stepped out, letting David finally see him and he grinned. “...but I think I’m a robe guy.”

David laughed and rolled his eyes. “Oh, wow.” He said, “I can’t believe it fits your lanky body,” he teased, walking towards him and playing with the strings on the robe.

“I mean, it only kinda does, but I feel like I’m showing just enough leg,” Matteo explained.

“Yeah, yeah,” David agreed, going in for a kiss.

“Right?” Matteo said, kissing him back. “And the rest is just breezy, and I feel beautiful.”

“You _are _beautiful,” David told him before he could stop himself and he quickly stepped away, clearing his throat. “But, um, are you gonna get dressed?” He turned away and walked over to the mirror to look himself over so he couldn’t look at Matteo, “It’s in 15 minutes.”

Matteo, stunned from David’s words, took a second to respond. “Oh, no, no, no.” He said keeping his tone light and teasing. “This is me now. This is me for all time.” He followed David over to the mirror and grinned at their reflections.

“Forever?” David asked, glad that Matteo didn’t stay on what he said. He looked him over in the mirror for a second before nodding, “Okay, I like it.”

“Oh? You like it?”

David grinned, “Yeah.”

“That’s good.” Matteo stepped forward and wrapped his arms around David’s waist, resting his chin on David’s shoulder, meeting his eyes in the mirror. 

“Hey,” David said softly.

“Hi,” Matteo responded, just as softly.

“You know, everyone has a point. I don’t think we look bad together.”

“Oh, it’s everyone that thinks that?” Matteo teased him.

“Yeah? I mean, they say it to me a lot. Don’t you get the same thing?”

Matteo turned David around and he wrapped his arms around Matteo’s neck, “No.” Matteo said, “I mostly get, _ Why do you spend so much time with that snob? _” 

David scoffed and pulled away from him, “I am _ not _ a snob!” He protested, rolling his eyes.

“Well,” Matteo made a sound, shrugging. He chuckled at whatever expression David was making and moved over to hug him again.

David was grumbling to himself but he wrapped his arms around Matteo anyway. “Hey, what if we stayed for longer?” He asked him, brushing his nose against Matteo’s.

“Really?” Matteo asked, pulling his head back slightly so he could look in his eyes.

“Yeah,” David shrugged, “You know, just, uh, just a day or two?”

“Seriously?” Matteo was smiling now, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“Yeah,” David smiled, sure that his cheeks were flushed as well.

“Okay, yeah, I could get down with that,” Matteo told him.

“You could?” 

“I could.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Really?” David knew he was annoying but he had to make sure.

Matteo laughed, unperturbed, “Yes!” 

“Well, then I’ll change our reservation,” David said, deciding that he was definitely not going to tell Matteo that he’d already extended it before he’d even gotten there. His teasing would be relentless. 

“Okay!” Matteo exclaimed, “Boom-shakalaka!”

“No,” David said, shaking his head and pulling away. “No,”

“What?”

“We put boom-shakalaka away, remember?”

“_No_,” Matteo argued, “you said only on special occasions and _ this _is pretty fucking special.”

David shook his head, “I don’t know if it qualifies-”

“Boom-shakalaka, baby!” Matteo yelled, cutting him off and David rolled his eyes before pushing him into the bedroom and telling him to get dressed.

When they finally got to the wedding, hands swinging between them and being absolutely like every couple they laugh at, they were greeted by Sara and Leonie, who had immediately zeroed in on their hands and the wide smiles on their faces. 

Sara pulled David into a hug, happily jumping around at the news and Leonie had a smirk on her face when she pulled him into a hug right after. David watched as Matteo’s cheeks turned red from Sara’s hug but Matteo didn’t mind at all. He’d even started jumping right before Sara pulled away and he grinned at Leonie when she patted his shoulder fondly.

“Do you guys want to get a picture?” Sara asked them when they’d finally calmed down. It wasn’t time to be seated yet and everyone was taking advantage of the extra time to take photos by the waterfront.

“Do you have one yet?” Leonie asked them. 

“No,” Matteo said, shaking his head.

“We have - we have a few,” David added, awkwardly. He wasn’t sure if Matteo was into any of that. 

“We have pictures. We don’t need-” Matteo said and he hoped they would leave it alone. But of course, they didn’t.

Sara cut him off and grabbed onto David's hand, pulling them to a clear space where no one could walk into their shot.

“You don’t have them with this!” Leonie said, gesturing at the water and how beautiful it looked. “You don’t have that background.”

“Give me your phones,” Sara said at the same time and David handed his phone over, giving in. “Don’t be weird about it.” She said. 

“Alright,” Matteo said, giving up just as David had but rolling his eyes even though he knew they couldn’t see them thanks to his sunglasses, “fine.”

David adjusted them, deciding that if they were going to take a photo it was going to be a silly one. He crouched down and told Matteo to sit on his leg and Matteo complied, sitting down carefully so all his weight wasn’t just on David’s one leg, David should’ve been suspicious.

They opened their mouths at the same time, making as silly of a face they were both comfortable with and Sara was snapping away. Matteo reached up and flicked at David’s teeth, jumping away when David recoiled and laughing loudly. Sara and Leonie joined in, rushing over to Matteo to show him the photo they’d taken right when his finger had made contact with David’s teeth and they laughed at the expression David was making in the photo. 

They looked up at David and saw that he was now flipping Matteo off and it just made them laugh more, David joining in despite the fact that he was clutching his mouth. Matteo almost fell from laughing at him so much. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he felt such unbridled joy. They took more photos in various poses but just as silly after that when David was sure that Matteo wouldn’t sneak attack him and Matteo was glad because David looked so good in the sunlight. 

Then, it was time to be seated and Matteo and David couldn’t help how happy they felt. The vibes at this wedding were much more different than the others they’d been to and they were sure it was because of each other, but they weren’t going to say that. They watched as Julia walked down the aisle, a big smile on her face as she walked toward her almost-husband, Dave. 

The ceremony went on like the others usually did with them whispering comments on the vows to each other and laughing quietly. But it was different now. Matteo was leaning his head on David’s shoulder and their intertwined fingers were comfortably resting in David’s lap, and it felt good.

The rest of their time went by with them spending every second together. David had extended their stay until Wednesday, giving them a well deserved mini vacation.

David suggested they sunbathe and Matteo happily went along with it, and then Matteo suggested swimming at midnight and David snuck out with him even though they were adults and technically didn’t have to sneak anywhere. It kept on like that, them enjoying themselves without anything holding them back. Matteo reaching out to hold David’s hand whenever he wanted to, David leaning in for a kiss whenever he felt like it. 

Matteo had brought a book along and he’d insisted on reading it so David rested comfortably on his lap and had Matteo read to him. His voice was so soft and Matteo running his fingers through his hair was so nice that David immediately fell asleep, only to be woken by Matteo’s wet finger going into his ear and then immediately retaliating, making Matteo squeal loudly and run away from him.

It was like they were in college again, doing everything they used to do and things they never could imagine doing with each other. It was good. 

On the last night, they showered together and David was happily lathering shampoo in Matteo’s hair, telling him a story about work that he was sure Matteo wasn’t paying attention to. He wished that they had a tub instead of a shower but it wasn’t like either of them was complaining about how close they had to be to each other anyway, so he didn’t mind that much.

Matteo had his eyes closed, smiling contently at the feeling of David’s fingers in his hair, of David being so close to him that if he took one step their chests would touch. He felt like he was dreaming and he opened his eyes to look at David, to make sure this was real. David smiled fondly at him, moving his hands down his neck and caressing his jaw before placing a chaste kiss on his lips. Matteo groaned, wanting more and thinking that he would never get enough of kissing David. 

Suddenly, Matteo remembered a conversation they’d had when they were walking back to their hotel when the shuttle left them at the pool. He took a step closer causing David to frown at him, unsure of what he was going to do until Matteo raised his eyebrows at him, his face serious.

“No,” David said, panicked as Matteo cornered him, “don’t you do it.” He warned, his voice shaking. “Don’t you dare pee.” 

“I’m doing it,” Matteo said seriously, his eyes never leaving Davids.

David grimaced and looked away, squeezing his eyes shut and bracing himself. “No, no, no.” He said, “Don’t pee!”

Matteo didn’t relent. “I’m doing it.”

“Oh, it’s warm!” David exclaimed and started looking for the door to the shower. He had to escape this hell. 

“Nooo, you can’t leave.” Matteo scolded him, the amusement at David’s reaction coming through. “You have to face this!”

“No, I don’t!” David squealed, finally managing to open the door and escape. 

“It feels so good!” Matteo shouted, laughing at David’s retreating body.

“_No! _”


	8. That Was The Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 8!  
\- Once again, I'm sorry this took so long. Every time I write a chapter, I think it's so difficult but this chapter here takes the cake. This chapter kicked my ass!  
\- Thank you to my best friend Renee for, once again, helping me through all the doubt and stress.  
\- Also, I feel the need to add that I don't speak Italian and I only googled what they call their aunts lol if it's wrong I'm sorry!  
\- Chapter 9 should be up within the next 2 weeks because it's already half-written lol  
\- I hope you're all doing well and social distancing as best as you could and staying as safe as you can!

On the last morning of their mini-vacation, Matteo was woken up from the lack of warmth surrounding him. He’d fallen asleep wrapped up in David’s arms, but now he was on one side of the bed and it seemed like David was on the other. Grumbling, Matteo turned around with the thought of pulling David’s arms back around him in mind but when he saw David’s sleeping face, he paused. He watched David, admired his cheeks that were rosy even in his sleep and his peaceful expression. 

He liked this - being able to look at David without making him uncomfortable. He liked that he could do it now in the open, but he appreciated these quiet times when David couldn’t tell him anything. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to look at David until recently. He’d forgotten all of his awkward stares when they were younger, how David would look at him questioningly when he caught him staring, and how Matteo would just shrug it off like it was nothing. 

After a while, though, Matteo decided it was time to wake him up. He wanted to see David’s eyes looking at him half-amused, half exasperated because he said something dumb again. He wanted to hear his morning voice grumbling at him for waking him up. He wanted to do something else too but he would leave that until David was fully awake.

Matteo moved closer to his face and pressed a kiss to David’s forehead. He couldn’t help staring again, and he reached out, almost dreamily, to lightly brush his eyelashes. They were so long and soft and it reminded him of when David looked at him through them and the thought sent shivers down his spine, reminding him of what he was doing. What he _wanted _to do. He pressed a kiss to his cheeks and then tiny kisses against it until he got to his nose, where he also left a kiss. After that, Matteo placed a kiss on both of his eyes, and then finally he moved down to his lips. Under him, David stirred when their lips met and Matteo couldn’t help smiling when he felt David kiss him back. 

Pulling away slightly, his eyes met David’s. “Morning,” He murmured, suddenly feeling shy. 

“Morning,” David responded sleepily, his eyes shining. “How come you’re awake?” 

Matteo adjusted himself so he was leaning on his elbow and shrugged, “You rolled away from me in your sleep and I woke up to pull you back to me cause I got cold,” He explained, his cheeks getting red as he said the next words. “but then I saw how you looked when you’re sleeping and I got…distracted.” 

David grinned and rolled his eyes, “You’re so creepy.” He said fondly, and he reached out to ruffle Matteo’s hair more than it already was messed up. 

Matteo chuckled, “Yeah, but then I wanted to see your eyes.” He paused, frowning slightly. “Is that bad?”

“No,” David murmured, and he noticed Matteo relax immediately, the sleepy smile returning. “Early morning kisses are a delightful way to wake up.” He assured him.

Matteo grinned again, rushing forward to give David one, two, three kisses. Then he moved on to pressing little kisses all over his face and David was laughing so much Matteo had to hold his face in place with his hands.

When Matteo’s lips found David’s again, David pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around his neck and giving Matteo no other option but to climb on top of him.

“Now that I’m awake,” David said when Matteo pulled away, “What are you gonna do?” 

Matteo smirked at him, his face red and eyes mischievous. “Well, we have a couple of hours to kill before we have to be at the airport.” He began, “So, I have a very specific idea in mind if you want.” He told him, leaning in for a kiss and he felt David nodding. He followed David’s jaw down his neck and moved slowly, kissing and biting where he knew he would get a reaction, glad that David had opted out of wearing a shirt to bed. 

When David realized what Matteo was doing, he couldn’t help the surprised laugh that escaped him. Usually, he’d be losing his mind to get to the airport on time but, as Matteo said, they had a few hours and he definitely did not want Matteo to stop.

He followed the path down David’s body, stopping only to leave little marks on his chest and stomach to show he was there, little reminders to get David to think of him when he was alone. He loved hearing the sounds that David made each time he paused and when he finally got to where he wanted to be; he felt David’s hand in his hair and he looked up.

“You okay?” Matteo asked David, double-checking that this was fine.

“Oh, hell yes,” David responded immediately, voice strained. 

Matteo grinned and nodded, moving swiftly to remove the rest of David’s clothes and then kissed everywhere except where he knew David wanted him. He wanted to tease him, frustrate him a little more, but when Matteo looked up and saw how David was looking at him, he knew he couldn’t. So, he hooked one of David’s legs across his shoulder and pressed a wet kiss to his inner thigh before he gave him what they both wanted and felt David’s fingers tightening in his hair.

“Oh, my fucking god,” David was mumbling over and over and Matteo was trying not to look as amused as he felt. Their morning shenanigans had gone on a little longer than it was supposed to and now they were cutting it very close to take off and David was irritated.

“We’ll make it, David, calm down.” Matteo tried again, the words coming out naturally after he’d already said them so many times, and he knew that if David wasn’t worried about them missing their flight, he probably would’ve tackled him.

“Shit,” David said, ignoring him. “security better not take their sweet time doing this, Matteo.” 

Matteo gaped at him even though he knew David wasn’t gonna turn to look at him, “I have absolutely no control over TSA, Schreibner, so don’t put that on me.” He scoffed and when David turned to glare at him, Matteo couldn’t help but grin.

“This is all your fault!” David told him when they got in the line, “You and your morning wood.” 

Matteo snorted, “My _ morning wood_?” He repeated, incredulous, and holding back laughter. 

“Yes,” David huffed, turning away from him to go through the detector. 

“Well, you weren’t complaining about it this morning _now_ _were you_?” Matteo teased, and he didn’t have to look at him to know his face was turning red, he could even feel his own face burning just talking about it. He hoped the people checking them didn’t understand German. 

David waited until Matteo was done and then pulled him along, moving as fast as he could in an airport without being shouted at to slow down. After a full minute of half running, Matteo was out of breath but David was grinning widely, glad that they’d made it in time.

“I hate you for making me run,” Matteo said to David in between big gulps of air. 

“Well, we made it on time so I don’t care. Come on.” David grabbed his hand again but this time he didn’t rush, they were already there they just needed to get on the plane and find their seats and hope that they weren’t stuck next to anyone creepy.

Once they were settled, and after David begrudgingly took the middle seat, Matteo was comfortably resting his head on David’s shoulder and yawning.

“Sleepy?” David asked him softly and Matteo nodded. “I am too.” He told him, wrapping his arm around Matteo’s shoulders and bringing him closer to his chest. “Get some rest,” He murmured and Matteo hummed quietly, way ahead of him.

It didn’t take long for Matteo to fall asleep and with his weight resting comfortably on David like a weighted blanket, David was right behind him.

***

Amira’s laughter was the soundtrack of today’s lunch, followed closely by Mohammed’s low chuckles. A few weeks ago they’d sat in this restaurant at this very booth with Matteo and David who, at the time, were denying feeling anything other than friendship and annoyance for the other.

Today they’d walked into the restaurant, hand in hand, shared a quick kiss, and sat down across from their friends. Even though they already knew what happened, they were only just _seeing _it and reacted the exact opposite of what they wanted. 

They hoped that Amira and Mohammed would take it lightly, hoping that they would just shrug it off since they’d already been told. But, of course not.

“Do you remember,” Amira was saying to Mohammed, “when we would go to a party and you would come with David because you were friends with him before we were, and I would come with Matteo because he’d be tagging along with Jonas, who was tagging along with Hanna?”

Mohammed nodded, regarding her with bright eyes and a fond smile. “Yes, of course.” He said, grinning, the memory returning to him.

“Do you know where this story is going?” David muttered to Matteo.

He shrugged, “No idea.”

“It was like you two were magnets,” Amira said to them, “we used to laugh about it because no matter where one of you was, you would find each other.”

“That’s right!” Mohammed exclaimed, “We’d all be having a nice time and dancing, and then suddenly no one can find David.”

“Yes! Same with Matteo!” Amira laughed, “Jonas would go searching for them and Hanna would get a text a few minutes later with a picture of them passed out on a couch somewhere.”

“There was that one time where they fell asleep on a balcony!”

“Oh, and against a wall in the middle of the party!”

Matteo rolled his eyes, “I don’t think it was like that.”

“Except that it was,” Amira responded, taking a sip of her drink.

“No, I don’t think so,” David remarked, shaking his head.

“I’m sure I could get a photo to prove what she said was right,” Mohammed spoke up and when David turned to glare at him, he grinned.

“What are we talking about?” Hanna’s voice came from behind them and David and Matteo turned to greet them, Matteo standing up to give Hanna and Jonas a hug.

“A bunch of lies,” Matteo said when he pulled away and adjusted himself so Hanna and Jonas could squeeze into the booth with them.

“Not lies, Matteo!” Amira protested, then turned to Hanna. “Do you still have those photos Jonas used to send you when he found those two just passed out in the middle of a party?”

Hanna grinned and nodded, “Of course! I think Sam made a special folder for them when we were graduating. I’m sure it’s somewhere. I’ll text her!”

“You don’t have to do that,” David objected. He remembered all those times, despite the fact that they were drunk or high out of their minds. He wasn’t sure why they’d always ended up together, but he always assumed it was because they were just heading in the same direction – back to their dorm. Now, though, as he feels Matteo squeeze his hand under the table and let go, he’s starting to wonder if there were other reasons.

“Okay!” Matteo half shouts, “Let’s talk about something other than mine and David’s exciting life.”

“Well, I remember when they made that really gross sandwich and actually ate and finished it,” Jonas said, ignoring him.

“There was nothing wrong with that sandwich,” Matteo responded, deadpan.

“It was good! It’s not our fault you all have absolutely no taste.” David scoffed at them.

“You put ketchup, pickles, and _whip cream _on that sandwich,” Hanna said, incredulous.

Amira laughed and shook her head, “There’s no winning with them. They’ve been defending that sandwich for years.”

“And we’ll continue to because it was delicious,” Matteo replied simply, shrugging, and David nodded. 

“Bestes sandwich,” David added, mirroring Matteo’s shrug.

“A culinary masterpiece,” Matteo stated.

“Shit was gross.” Jonas responded, “No matter what _ you _ say.”

“David was always into some odd things,” Mohammed said, “so they’re perfect for each other.”

Matteo and David both sighed and rolled their eyes in unison and it was quiet for a second before Hanna, Jonas, Amira, and Mohammed looked at each other and began to laugh loudly.

“What?” They asked them, turning to each other with confused expressions, but it only made the others laugh louder.

David rolled his eyes, “Is there a gas leak in here or something?”

“Yeah, I’m not getting the joke.” Matteo groaned.

“You two,” Jonas said like it explained everything.

“Us two what?” David prompted.

“You’re in sync.” Mohammed answered, “It’s cute.”

Matteo rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.”

“Yeah,” David added half-heartedly, unable to suppress the embarrassment he felt. Although, he found himself enjoying the teasing. It felt right. Besides, it was always funny to see Matteo’s cheeks go red.

Matteo turned to David and smiled softly, rolling his eyes again at their friends. He reached over and took David’s hand in his, squeezing it once before turning back to their friends who had finally changed the subject.

***

A few days later as they lounged at David’s place, Matteo had an announcement. Sorta. He was standing at the end of the sofa, nervously pulling at the tips of his fingers as he spoke.

David was sitting on the sofa, going over his work for tomorrow. He was only half-listening to Matteo, sure that wouldn’t be something too important. He heard a few words like _mama’s _and _cousin Lily’s wedding _and _hotel if you want _so he just nodded, shrugging it off. Until a few seconds later when he finally heard what he said and his head snapped up to meet his eyes. 

“Huh?” He asked, turning his full attention to Matteo and setting his work aside.

“We’ll be staying at my mama's place,” Matteo repeated, trying his best to pretend like he wasn’t affected by the thought at all. “My cousin is getting married, and she’ll be in the wedding. I am too but only because the groom is insisting that he wants the family involved and I think mama had something to do with it too but she won’t tell me-”

“Matteo,” David said suddenly, “breathe.”

He nodded and took a deep breath. He was rambling; he knew it. He was sure he’d be doing that until they were actually there, with his mother and some of his family. “They’re splitting everything between mama’s and my aunt's place so we’re gonna be there with some of my cousins, too.” He added.

Sure, he’d already met David’s father and almost stepmother, but his mama was always someone Matteo kept separate from his life. Jonas was the only one who’d known what was happening with him for a long time until Hans and Linn. Then Amira. And after a while, David. It was weird to bring it up like this; he knew it, but he’d procrastinated long enough and he didn’t want David to be ambushed when they got there. He also wanted to give him the chance to back out.

“Okay,” David said slowly, hiding his nerves as well. “It’ll be excellent practice for when Laura and I visit our dad and have to deal with the boys.” He told him, trying to lighten the mood. He’d heard about Matteo’s mother and the things that happened when he was younger, had spoken to her over the phone a few times, and he met her when they graduated, but that was as far as it went. “Are you driving?” David asked after a few seconds of silence. He knew Matteo was giving him an out, but he wouldn’t take it.

“Yeah,” Matteo said, his shoulders relaxing. “so, you can finally sit back and enjoy a ride.”

“Doubt it. Not with the way you drive.”

Matteo scoffed, “I resent that.”

“It’s not a lie,” David replied, and he opened his arms for Matteo, who hurried over to him and fell onto his chest, cuddling up immediately.

The tension was still there but Matteo felt better. They had a few days until they had to be there.

The drive to Matteo’s mother's house wasn’t long, but it was nerve-racking. They spent some time in silence but it didn’t last long because Matteo couldn't stand it. There was no way he could push away the anxious feeling if they weren’t talking. Thankfully, David caught on quickly to what he needed when Matteo tapped his thumb against the steering wheel a little too much and they spent the rest of the ride talking and laughing and Matteo’s shoulders relaxed eventually.

Now though, as Matteo turned into his mother’s driveway, his nerves made their way back into his body and he couldn’t pretend it wasn’t something big anymore.

“Let’s do this!” David said enthusiastically when Matteo parked, unbuckling his seatbelt and moving to open the door.

Matteo chuckled at his reaction but reached out and grabbed on his arm to stop him, to offer him one more out. “Wait, wait.” He said, his smile turning serious. “Are you sure you wanna stay here?”

David pretended to think for a second, “You know what,” He began, his voice teasing. “you’re right. Take me home.” He reached over and pulled the seatbelt across his body again, succeeding in making Matteo laugh.

“No, I’m serious. We can just- we can stay at a hotel nearby.” Matteo told him, his brows coming together, his voice soft.

“What? No way. It’s your cousin's wedding. You wanna be in the house, experiencing the energy and all that.”

Matteo bit his lip, worryingly. “Yeah, it’s just- it’s gonna be a very _ particular _ energy.”

David sighed, “I’m aware of the Florenzi energy.” He assured him.

“Okay, I know,” Matteo insisted, his expression still serious. “but it’s gonna get _ really real_.”

David’s eyes scanned his face for a second and Matteo thought that he was gonna back out. He was already reaching for the shifter when David unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.

“Come on,” David urged him as he stepped out, his smile returning. “let’s go.”

“Okay,” Matteo mumbled, unbuckling himself as well and switching the car off. “Say your prayers.” He warned.

***

“Well, it’s about time.” Matteo’s mother was saying, a wine glass in her hand. She was standing next to David at the small kitchen counter, making him nervous as he made the salad they’d be eating for dinner. 

It turned out that Matteo’s mother was just as intense as her son and just as quiet. But where Matteo waited until he was comfortable to show his true colors, his mother did no such thing. In fact, she treated David like she’d known him for years and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. Right now, though, it was incredibly awkward.

Matteo’s cousin Lily was sitting at the end of the counter, a wine glass in one of her hands as she scrolled through her phone ignoring them. David was sure his aunt Rosa was somewhere in the house because he’d seen her when they walked in, but she was probably doing some final touches on the dress. Her husband, Marco, was outside by the grill, enjoying the peace and quiet.

“Okay,” Matteo said, frowning as he shut the refrigerator door and opening a bottle of beer next to his mother. “Relax, mama.”

“You guys have known each other what, 10 years?” She kept going, ignoring him. Her voice was soft but expectant, like what she was asking was simple.

“But, it’s not like we were hanging out the entire time.” Matteo scoffed, moving around them to grab the bread from the counter to place it on the table for dinner.

“But Lily and Ishmael just met two years ago and they’re getting married tomorrow.” She countered.

“Zia, leave me out of it,” Lily warned before returning to her phone.

“Well, come on.” His mother huffed, her brows furrowing. “David, I get it. You were probably heartbroken when he was with Peter.”

“_Mama! _” Matteo exclaimed, but he was ignored again.

“I bet you hated Peter.” She said gently, patting David's shoulder.

“I didn’t really know him,” David told her honestly, doing his best to concentrate on the knife in his hands. He could count the times on his hand that he’d actually had a conversation with Peter where it didn’t involve Matteo.

“How long before the potatoes are done?” Matteo’s uncle Marco suddenly asked, distracting his mother so Matteo could send David an _ I told you so _look but David only grinned and shook his head. 

He wasn’t exactly comfortable with where the conversation was going but he was here as Matteo’s buffer so he would take it. Besides, it was hilarious watching them interact. Two sides of the same coin.

“They’re done.” She responded, “Why?”

“I’m just trying to gauge how much longer before I put the branzino on the grill.” Uncle Marco explained.

“Fifteen minutes ago!”

“Okay! My bad.” Marco said, “I got it.” And he quickly slid the door shut and turned his attention back to the grill.

David moved to the end of the counter so he could finish up with the salad and hopefully get away from his mother's intense gaze. Sure, her voice was soft and gentle but the questions were not. 

“So, what’s the problem? What took you so long?” She asked, cornering him again.

Matteo groaned loudly, “You don’t have to answer that.” He quickly told David, and he moved over to get between them but David shook his head and Matteo shrugged, leaving him to fend for himself.

“I can answer it,” David stated, smiling softly at them and trying his best to remain calm as he moved around them so he could cut up the last thing he needed in the salad.

Matteo turned to his mama when he felt her eyes on him. “You have to stop asking so many questions.”

She waved his words away, “Let him answer it.” She insisted and Matteo stomped off to the refrigerator while she turned to David expectantly. “So?”

David shrugged, “We were just friends.” He responded honestly, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.

“Friends?” She asked, rolling her eyes the way Matteo did. “Friends grow on trees, David. Do you know what doesn’t? Husbands. Now, this fine piece right here– ” She gestured to Matteo with her wine glass but Matteo cut her off with a loud groan.

“_Mama_, don’t call me a fine piece.” He protested and David quickly moved away from them and back to his salad, safe in the corner with the pepper grinder.

“What?” His mother asked innocently, turning to look at him again.

“That’s weird!”

“You’re my son. It’s okay if I think you’re a fine slice.”

The words _husband _bounced around in David’s head as he listened to Matteo and his mother talk over each other but he couldn’t explain the way he was feeling and wasn’t sure now was the time to think about it. Matteo snapped him out of his thoughts with another embarrassed groan aimed at his mother.

“Look,” His mama was saying, her voice just as soft and innocent as before. “He obviously agrees or he wouldn’t be throwing it into you. Right?”

David’s head snapped up at that, his eyebrows raising as he turned to look at them, completely amused but unsure of what to say. Was it appropriate to laugh at what Matteo’s mother had just said and the _way _she said it? He didn’t know. But from the way Matteo’s face had gotten red, he definitely wasn’t gonna ask. Matteo warned him, but he truly didn’t expect it to come to this.

“_Okay_, that’s enough!” Matteo half-yelled, putting down the glass that was in his hand and moving around the counter to David. “David, go see if uncle Marco needs help with the grill.”

“Okay,” David agreed quickly, watching as Matteo’s mother walked away to pour herself another glass of wine, the slightest hint of a smirk visible on her lips. “It’s crazy,” David whispered as he passed by Matteo. “You two have nothing in common.”

Matteo shoved him out the door, “Fuck off.” He told him, flipping him off.

David turned to look at uncle Marco who had a pleasant smile on his face. “Hey, uncle Marco.”

“Hello, David.” He responded, “How’s it going?”

The way he asked that made David wonder if he knew exactly what happened in the kitchen just now. “Doing good,” David told him and turned to the grill. “Do you need any help?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“Um,” Uncle Marco said, lifting the lid off the grill so they could look at the fish. “no.”

David nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m just gonna stay out here, then.”

Uncle Marco nodded, “I understand.” He reached over and patted David’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know you were in choir,” David said from where he was sitting comfortably the bed.

They were in Matteo’s childhood bedroom and David was looking through all his old things.

“Hell yeah,” Matteo responded from the bathroom, his words muffled as he spoke while brushing his teeth. “When I was younger Mama put me in. I stopped when I got older, though.”

David opened his mouth to ask why he stopped but then Matteo’s phone chimed and David glanced over at it instinctively, turning away when he saw the name on the screen and felt his chest clench. “You had a crush on Jonas?” He asked after he flipped through the pages of Matteo’s old yearbook, ignoring whatever feeling he just had.

“How do you know that?”

“You’ve got little hearts around his photo.”

Matteo chuckled and walked out of the bathroom, “Yeah, I did.” He admitted and crawled onto the bed to straddle him, snatching the book out of his hands and throwing it on the floor.

David rolled his eyes but reached up to grab onto Matteo’s hips as he leaned down for a kiss. “Hey, um,” He said against his lips, “Peter texted you.”

Matteo pulled away and frowned, “Just now?”

David nodded, “Yeah. Do you want to check it or?”

“No,” Matteo shook his head and sat up straighter, leaning back against David’s raised knees “I’m good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Matteo said, frowning slightly.

“Check it,” David told him, trying to keep his tone casual. He didn’t know why he was insisting on it but he couldn’t stop himself.

“You _ want _ me to check it?” Matteo asked suspiciously.

“No. I mean, you can.” He wasn’t making any sense. “_ I _ would.”

Matteo shook his head. “No. I know what it says. I don’t need to check that.”

“What does it say?”

“Probably, _ ‘Oh, Matteo. I miss you. I made a mistake.’ _ It’s all bullshit.”

David frowned, “That doesn’t mess with you, like, at all?”

“No, dude. I’m with you.” Matteo moved to kiss him, his eyes going soft as he tapped David’s chest. “This guy.” He stated, and he pressed a kiss against his lips and David let himself get lost in it, sitting up so he could wrap his arms around Matteo. But then Matteo’s lips went to his neck and his arms reached down to pull his shirt up.

“Hold on,” David muttered, pushing him away a little. “I think,”

“What?” Matteo asked, going in for another kiss.

“I think maybe we wait until we’re back home to do this?” David suggested, biting his lip.

“Are you being serious?”

“Yeah. I don’t want your mom to come in and like, bop me on the head.”

“Bop you?”

“Yeah, bop me.”

Matteo stared at him for a second, searching his face, before he got off of him and adjusted himself on his side of the bed, “Okay.”

“I just figured, maybe the walls are kind of thin, maybe your family can hear us.” David tried to explain, but it was bullshit and he was sure Matteo could tell.

“I mean, they can’t, but yeah,” Matteo muttered, turning away from him. “It’s okay,” He said after a while, realizing that he wasn’t being fair. If David didn’t want to then he wouldn’t push him. “we have to wake up early anyway.”

The text chime went off again, signaling the 2-minute mark since Peter’s message came through and David watched as Matteo reached over to clear the notification, not even stopping to read it. He didn’t understand why it bothered him that Matteo wasn’t responding to Peter if anything he should’ve been happy about it because it meant that Matteo wanted to pay attention to _ him _.

He reached over and wrapped his arms and leg around Matteo, pulling him against his body. “Hey,” He said softly, kissing near his ear. “you know what we’re gonna do when we get back home?” He asked, his tone teasing as he moved down to softly bite Matteo’s earlobe.

“What?” Matteo asked, his voice strained but amused.

“Just sex,” David said, doing his best to keep himself from laughing. “Just - hardcore _ fucking_.”

Matteo laughed and reached around to push his face away, “Okay.” He said and he reached over to turn off the lamp before turning around so he could rest his head on David’s chest. “Go to bed.” He whispered, reaching up to kiss him before settling back onto his chest.

David chuckled and wrapped his arms tightly around Matteo, just the way he knew he liked it. 

They were quiet for a little bit before David spoke up again. “Hey, I’m totally cool if you wanna check that text.”

“Oh, my god. _ Shut up_.”

David was struggling with the helium tank and the balloons. As soon as he’d gotten up and dressed this morning, Matteo’s mom had handed him different tasks for him to do while she ran around trying to help her sister with the final touches on everything before they went to the church. It’s been 2 hours since he last saw Matteo.

“Where are the caterers? They were supposed to be here an hour ago!” Aunt Rosa was shouting, rushing around the house to check up on what everyone else was doing. The house was filled with more of Matteo’s cousins, who seemed to be there against their will to help with the wedding. He’d already seen two them sneak out for a smoke after Matteo’s aunt Rosa rushed in, frantically speaking in Italian as she looked for something David couldn’t figure out.

“Dolores,” He heard aunt Rosa say to one of Matteo’s cousins, “please put those flowers down.”

Being here without Matteo was strange. Usually, David was the one that got along with everyone quickly, but it felt different when it came to Matteo’s family. He was sure it was because he’d basically been put in a corner to work while everyone else did whatever was asked of them as well, but it just felt weird. The balloons wouldn’t cooperate, and the tank was pissing him off.

“Fuck,” He muttered to himself when he failed to blow up another balloon.

At the table a few feet away from him, Matteo’s mother was working diligently on a collage and ignoring all the chaos around her. David thought of Matteo and how sometimes he just needed some peace when they were at a party or anywhere with a lot of people and he felt his lips lift in a smile. _ Two sides of the same coin. _

“I need a little help with the collage.” Matteo’s mother said to her sister as she rushed by. “It’s taking forever!”

Aunt Rosa sighed and looked around the room, she opened her mouth when she spotted one cousin running around.

David’s head turned at the mention of a collage, and he quickly raised his hand to volunteer. “Uh, I can help!” He said, glad that there was finally something he’d be able to do properly. Art. That was his thing.

“Go, go, go!” She said, gesturing to the empty seat.

David stood up, his foot getting stuck on the tank as he rushed over to help and he caught himself and the tank before it fell over. He really fucking hated that tank.

“I hope you’re better with a glue stick than you are with a helium tank.” She said as she walked away, groaning as she walked into whatever other disasters there was.

“Hello,” David greeted mama Florenzi gratefully, “What can I do?” He braced himself for more gently spoken intrusive questions, but it was clear that her focus was on the pictures in front of her. Besides, David secretly suspected that she was only asking those questions to tease them.

“Well, we’re collaging.” She said softly, unperturbed by the surrounding chaos. “Start with that pile and cut around the heads. Leave the ears though.”

David nodded and quickly got to work, stopping only when he needed to know where he should place the picture once he was done with them, sure that she had a specific idea in mind for how she wanted the collage.

“You can put that one next to the engagement picture,” She said as he handed David one of the photos she just cut.

“No problem,” David replied before reaching over for another photo, his eyes landing on one of Matteo when he was younger. He was wearing a bright blue hat with flowers all over it and smiling brightly at the camera. “Oh, my god. Is this Matteo?” He asked, knowing that it couldn’t be anyone else.

She looked over and nodded, smiling fondly at the photo. “Yeah, it is.”

“Look at that hat!” David grinned, looking over the photo again.

“I know,” Mama Florenzi grinned, “isn’t he cute?”

David chuckled, giving a sound of agreement before he looked through the photos, hoping to see another cute photo of little Matteo. There was one with his cousin Lily and her soon to be husband Ishmael and David couldn’t help the smile that was on his face as he moved on to another photo. The next one, though, was one of Matteo smiling happily at the camera with Peter’s arms wrapped around him.

He turned the photo right side up and examined it, looking over Matteo’s and Peter’s smiling faces and the ache from last night returned. He didn’t spend much time with Matteo when he was with Peter. In fact, David was sure that Peter didn’t really like him in the first place but he was never sure why and he didn’t care enough to ask. 

“Oh, whoops.” Matteo’s mother said when she noticed that David was silent but not cutting or gluing anything, “I don’t know how Peter got in there.” She took the photo out of David’s hands and tossed it over her shoulder, “Should’ve thrown that one out.”

David nodded, “It happens,” He assured her, shrugging.

They were quiet for a little, the only sounds at the table being the scissors and the glue stick when it was rubbed across the back of a picture.

Mama Florenzi spoke first, her voice soft like before but genuine. “I’m really glad you came along, David.”

David looked up from the picture he was cutting, thrown by the way her tone changed.

“I haven’t seen my son this happy in a long time.” She said, “I worry about Matteo after everything, you know?”

David nodded slowly, opening his mouth to say something but closed it when he couldn’t think of anything. His mind went back to the photo of Matteo and Peter smiling happily. When did the happiness in that photo fade? How could they go from smiling so brightly and looking so happy with each other, to hurting and ignoring each other? 

Mama Florenzi cleared her throat, “Anyway, I’m glad he has you.”

He smiled at her and hoped she couldn’t tell that it was forced.

“Why aren’t the flowers already here?” Matteo’s mom was asking, sounding tired. They’d moved outside to finish up the backyard so that everything would be ready when they all piled up in her yard after the church. She wanted to help her sister as much as she could and David could tell that she was pushing herself to do more than she usually did so he tried to help as much as he could.

David had been trying his best to help out however he could even though his mind wasn’t there anymore. Matteo had checked on him when they finished with the collage and had kissed him roughly before he had to leave to help with something else, or help one of his cousins in the kitchen, or rush to his aunts’ side to help her with whatever she needed.

He couldn’t even be offended that everything he did was quickly adjusted or that Matteo’s attention was on everything except for him. His thoughts were far away and no matter how much he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, everything seemed to be going slowly.

“Everybody’s moving so slowly.” He heard Matteo’s mom say as if she could read his mind.

David watched as Matteo rushed over to her and rubbed her shoulders, “It’s alright,” He said to her softly, “It’s beautiful. You’ve done an amazing job. Zia Rosa is so happy she got you to help them and that you let them use the backyard.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, “I love you, mama.” He said, and his mom hugged him back, her smile tired but content.

“I love you too.” She whispered before pushing him away, “Now, get back to work.”

David wished he wasn’t feeling so weird, otherwise, he would have asked for a hug too. Maybe teased him a little bit. But, the thought of having Matteo’s arms around him when his mind was occupied by the photo of him and Peter made him feel weird.

A few hours later, they were back in the yard but this time it was filled. All the seats were taken by Matteo’s family and Ishmael’s family and Matteo was pulling David around, introducing him to his aunts and uncles. David had pulled himself together enough to not make Matteo worry. He promised to be there for Matteo, after all. That was the point of all of this.

At golden hour, everyone prepared to get their photos taken before the light ran out and David stepped back to let Matteo and his family do their thing. But, Mama Florenzi had other plans.

“David,” She called over to him, smiling brightly. “The assistant collage master, come on.”

“No, it’s okay,” David said, taking another step back and trying to be as polite as possible while declining.

“It’s fine!” Matteo grinned at him, but David noticed that it didn’t reach his eyes. Was he not doing as good a job at hiding how he was feeling as he thought? “Just come into the shot, David,” Matteo said and the slightest change in his tone answered David’s question for him.

David nodded and adjusted his clothes to make sure nothing was out of place and walked over to Matteo. He felt Matteo’s shoulders relax when he wrapped his arm around his waist and David didn’t understand the feeling that came over him. 

Mama Florenzi took her place next to Matteo, wrapping one of her arms around her son like David had and they all smiled at the camera. David hoped, once again, that it wasn’t obvious that his smile was faked.

“Um, are you doing okay?” Matteo asked David, pulling him aside for a few seconds to themselves.

David nodded, “Yeah,” He lied. “I’m good.”

Matteo studied his face, and David smiled, hoping that it would convince him. 

“Okay,” He said after a few seconds and took a deep breath. “It’s more than you could’ve possibly imagined, right?”

David chuckled and shook his head, “No, no, no. It’s great.” He paused, “Well, your aunt giving me a shoutout at her daughter’s wedding was weird but at least she said I was cute.”

Matteo laughed loudly and opened his mouth to say something but then his mama called him over to say hi to some of his cousins that weren’t in the house with them and their conversation was cut short. He gave David a look of apology and a quick kiss on his cheek before he pulled him along to greet them.

***

“David, let’s go,” Matteo whined impatiently as he fidgeted on David’s couch. “What are you doing?”

“Writing a card for Leonie and Sara.” He responded, distracted.

“Okay,” Matteo was quiet for a few more seconds before he spoke up again, the silence bothering him apparently. “What are these pillows?” He asked, his tone making his distaste clear.

“I think it was a gift,” David responded calmly, but he was a little annoyed. His pillows were nice!

“I’m gonna buy you new ones,” Matteo told him.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. They’re burning my eyes.”

“Well, I like them,” David responded, his tone a little sharper than needed and he wondered if Matteo could be any more annoying. Although, after years of knowing him, he knew the answer to that question. Besides, it wasn’t his fault that David felt cornered whenever Matteo spoke to him. David didn’t even understand the way he was feeling and Matteo had done nothing wrong. He was just there, being himself.

Matteo had gone quiet again, probably sensing whatever vibes David was trying so hard to push away. “How much longer?” He asked after a while, his voice muffled.

“Love, Matteo and David. There we go.” David said and he closed the card before placing it in the envelope. He turned around and saw that Matteo was laying down on his sofa with one of his pillows on his face. “You ready?”

Matteo jumped up, “Yeah! Been ready.”

“Do you have the gift in your car?” David asked him as he put on his jacket and when Matteo didn’t answer immediately, he turned to look at him.

“Oh…” Matteo nervously bit down on his lip; his expression guilty.

“Matteo,” David said, shaking his head.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Seriously?”

“I left it at my house but we can swing by and pick it up!” He offered, already grabbing his keys.

“No, no.” David shook his head, “We don’t have time for that.” He looked around his living room for anything he could give as a gift but when he saw nothing worthy, he shook his head again and cursed silently to himself. “Let’s just – let’s go.” He said, turning back to Matteo who only nodded.

***

“Oh, I hate this,” David muttered to himself.

They’d ridden in silence and Matteo knew David could feel his eyes on him more than once but he never looked at him and Matteo refused to speak up. He could tell that David was annoyed and he would apologize if it was actually something serious, but he’d offered to drive by his place to get the gift and David had refused. It wasn’t like there was a specific time they had to be here anyway.

They were in the elevator now, heading up to where Leonie and Sara had decided to hold their _super casual wedding_.

“I hate showing up empty-handed,” David said after a few seconds of silence.

“It’s fine,” Matteo tried to comfort him. “I promise you they don’t give a shit.”

“I give a shit!” David responded, “Hand-delivering a gift. It’s a classic move.”

“I never give a gift,” Matteo told him, shrugging.

“You never give a gift?” David asked, “What does that mean?”

“No,” Matteo scoffed, “They should give me a gift for coming to this shit.”

David stared at Matteo for a second, probably running his words through his head. “Do you hear yourself right now?” He asked him, the judgment clear in his voice.

Matteo shrugged, “Yeah?”

“That’s the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

“David, I’m just kid-” Matteo began but was interrupted by the elevator doors opening up and David turning to look at who was coming in.

“Shouldn’t it be refrigerated?” The guy was saying, turning to the person beside him who shrugged.

“No, we’re already going to the roof.” She said as they entered and smiled when they noticed Matteo and David. “Oh. Are you friends with Leonie and Sara?”

“Yeah,” David answered, a very fake smile appearing. “I’m David and this is Matteo.”

“I can introduce myself,” Matteo stated, his voice louder than usual as he turned to them smiling. “I’m Matteo. This is David.”

The two stared at them for a second before the woman spoke up, “Oh, uh, pleased to meet you guys. I’m Jackie.”

“I’m Greg,” The other person said, nodding at them.

“We’re the downstairs neighbors,” Jackie told them, smiling warmly.

“You guys know if there’s gonna be food at this thing?” Greg asked.

“I already told you that there isn’t food,” Jackie said under her breath, walking out when the doors opened again.

“And you’ve never been wrong?” Greg asked, “Never, ever been wrong in your life?”

“See? They have a gift.” David said as they followed behind them.

“Okay.” Matteo said and reached out to grab David’s arm and pull him off to the side, “You know what? Can you just let it go? I really don’t want to go through the whole party in a fight.”

David shrugged, “I’m not doing anything.”

Matteo frowned, “You’re being a little shitty,”

“Don’t do that,” David said, walking away from him and to the rooftop where the party was going on.

“Do what?” Matteo asked, following behind him.

“Don’t make me feel crazy because you messed up.”

“_I’m not_. I literally left a present at home. It should _ not _ be this big of a deal.”

“Are you kidding me?” David scoffed, turning to look at him. “It’s a big deal! I asked you to pick it up like, what, three times?”

“Who cares that you are literally the only person who doesn’t use gift registration?” Matteo half yelled, laughter coming out in surprise at how ridiculous this was.

“Yeah, that’s what's special about actually hand-delivering a gift.” David argued, “You get to see their reaction. You get to see the joy. It’s amazing.”

Matteo rolled his eyes, “David, we got them a Keurig. I don’t think the two of them will exactly come with enthusiasm.”

“Well, we’re never gonna know now, are we?”

“Okay,” Matteo told him, fighting the urge to roll his eyes again. 

He spotted Leonie and Sara first and hurried over to them, giving them both hugs before moving aside so David could greet them.

“Oh, my god.” David’s face immediately softened when he saw them and hugged them both tightly. “Congratulations!”

“You guys, I am so sorry we don’t come bearing gifts.” Matteo started, “Bozo here left it at home.”

“Seriously?” David asked, turning to frown at him.

“I’m joking!” Matteo grinned, “It was me. I’m the monster who left your Keurig at home. I’m sorry.”

“A Keurig?” Sara asked, a slight frown on her lips.

“It’s the little coffee thing with the pods,” Leonie explained.

“Oh! Nice!” Sara grinned at them, “Thank you so much!”

“Yeah. See, David? You get to see the excitement.” Matteo turned to David, grinning. 

He didn’t want them to fight, didn’t want this to keep going. David had been acting weird since they got back from his mama’s house, always responding late when they weren’t together, and then giving him very short clipped answers when they were. They always seemed like they were on a brink of a fight but Matteo always made it better. This time, though, it didn’t seem like his little quips would help. 

“Well, you blew the surprise. Okay?” David told him, his eyes hardening as he turned to the others with a forced smile. “He blew the surprise. I’m sorry.”

Matteo’s grin fell as he watched David interact with them. He didn’t understand why he was taking this so seriously. Especially when it came to Leonie and Sara, who were having their wedding on a _ rooftop _for Christ’s sake. But, it seemed like David wanted to fight today. 

“Well,” Leonie said, probably sensing the tension, “I don’t give a shit that you left it at home.”

Sara nodded and pulled her close. “Yeah, we’re just glad you’re here. It’s nice to see you two!”

“Okay, well, forget it!” Matteo said, taking the chance to change the subject. “Congratulations, you two! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Let’s get shitfaced, yeah?” Leonie offered, looking over at David a second longer than necessary.

“Please, yes.” Matteo responded, “Please, please, please.”

Half an hour later, after a tense round of drinking with Matteo and David, Sara and Leonie escaped to take some pictures and Matteo disappeared, mumbling about getting them more beer.

As he walked back, he noticed that David was watching Sara and Leonie as they did different poses for the camera at the photo booth they’d set up. David was laughing at their silliness and Matteo decided that that was what they needed. Some silly photos just to clear the air.

With a determined set of his shoulders, Matteo walked over to David and handed him one of the cups in his hands. “Pictures?” He asked, tilting his head and giving him a small smile.

David nodded and followed him over to the table with the different props.

The vibes from David were still off, but at least he was joining him. “For Jacob and Anna’s wedding, I was thinking we just do the same thing that we did on the beach and stick around a couple extra days?” Matteo offered as he picked the bunny ears and a beard on a stick, and David chose a cowboy hat. He’d been thinking about it the last few days, wondering if maybe he and David just needed some time away from everyone. They’d had such a nice time before.

“I don’t know,” David responded, adjusting the cowboy hat on his head. “I don’t know if I can make it to that one.”

“What? Why?” Matteo asked, lowering the beard.

“I just – I have a thing.”

“A thing,” Matteo repeated, deadpan.

“Yeah, it’s a work thing.” David went on even though it was obvious he was lying. “I can’t move it.”

“No.” Matteo objected, “You’re not making me go to Jacob Cartelli’s wedding by myself.”

He scoffed, “I’m pretty sure you can handle it.” David replied, his tone clipped.

“David, you’re coming to the wedding. You don’t just get to bail because you’re in a mood.”

“I’m not in a mood.” David responded, pulling the hat off of his head.

“Yes, you are! You’re in a shit mood because of the coffeemaker.”

“It’s not the coffeemaker!” David yelled as the flash from the camera went off.

Matteo stared at David at a loss for words, shocked that he’d actually raised his voice at him. He could feel the eyes on his face from the people who’d turn to look at whatever the commotion was.

“Sorry,” David told him, “I need a second.”

Matteo watched as David walked away and disappeared into the crowd and decided that he’d give him a few minutes to calm down before he went looking for him.

10 minutes passed with no sign of David anywhere, Matteo searched the entire rooftop before he went downstairs and found him sitting on the steps of the building.

“There you are.” He said, his voice soft. Cautious.

“Hey,” David responded.

“What’s going on with you?” Matteo asked him, sitting next to him but giving him some space.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

“I don’t know. Stuff.”

Matteo scoffed, “Oh. Stuff. In that case, I’ll leave you be.”

David shrugged and stood up, heading for the doors that would take him upstairs.

Matteo stood up and reached out for him, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him back. “Stop!” He said, raising his voice. “Talk to me.”

David stared at him for a second before he spoke. “I don’t know – I’ve been thinking about us, you know?” He said, “About what this is.”

“We’re dating,” Matteo said simply, “It’s not a huge fucking mystery.”

“It’s not weird to you?” David asked, “That we’re suddenly, like, this couple?”

“No.” Matteo stated, “David, this isn’t sudden. We’ve been doing this for a while. I mean, Jesus, you came to my cousin's wedding with me.”

“Yeah, yeah! Because that was the deal. That’s what we do.”

Matteo stared at him for a second, thinking over his words. “Are you fucking serious right now?” He asked him in disbelief.

“I just – I never saw us as a thing.”

“So? Neither did I.” Matteo told him, “But it changed and it just – it happened.”

“Matteo I- I can feel you settling in,” David sighed, “and I’m having doubts.”

“Okay,” Matteo muttered, “That’s okay. I mean, you’re allowed to have doubts.”

“It’s just – I don’t think we have what, like, Sara and Leonie have.”

“Which is what?” Matteo asked him, confused.

“Matteo,” David breathed, “I look at some of these couples and they’re not like us. They just have this…this…” He paused, looking for the right words.

“Love?” Matteo suggested.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, well, I love you, dumbass.” Matteo informed him, chuckling softly in relief and unable to keep the grin off his face now that he’d said it. Maybe David was doubting his feelings for him, maybe he wasn't clear enough. He didn’t think this was how he would say this to David, but it was okay. They’d always been a little off the mark.

Matteo waited for David to speak up, to maybe smile at him like he did when they were at the beach. But the smile Matteo wore fell the more the seconds went by and David said nothing. Instead, his expression changed to something else. Something more like guilt.

“Do you love me?” Matteo asked, unsure if he even wanted to hear the response.

David looked away from him, his eyes finding the ground. “I don’t know.” He finally said, his eyes meeting Matteo’s again.

“So that’s a no.” Matteo could feel his eyes stinging and his throat tightening up.

“It’s an _ I don’t know_,” David whispered.

“Okay,” Matteo muttered and he looked away, knowing that if he actually looked at David, he’d start crying. “That’s fucking great.”

“Matteo, I just need to be 100% certain with you and I’m not.” David blurted, trying to make Matteo meet his eyes again. “I’m not right now.”

“Oh, my god,” Matteo whispered, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“I’m sorry,” David said, stumbling over his words. “I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped this a long time ago.”

But then everything suddenly fell into place. The way David would snap at him a little too forcefully, the way he’d begun to say he was busy whenever Matteo would invite him over. And how sometimes Matteo would feel David’s gaze on him, and when he’d look over David looked so uncertain but when Matteo asked him about it, he would smile a smile that wouldn’t reach his eyes brush it off and pull Matteo close to him. 

“David, don’t do this.” Matteo’s voice had risen as he tried to speak over David. “Stop, stop doing this.” He finally met his eyes again, “I’m serious. We have a good thing okay? I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m not asking you to move in. I mean, what? What do you need?” Matteo pleaded, “This is _good_. You just have to give it a chance, David. Just try,” Matteo’s voice had lowered to a whisper as he watched David react to his words like he was hurting him, “Just try for me.”

“I can’t,” David immediately responded, his voice breaking.

“Why can’t you?” Matteo whispered he didn’t think he could speak any louder.

“Matteo,” David said, “I can’t just say ‘_fuck it _’ and then hurt you the way Peter did. I’m sorry, but that would kill me if I did that to you.”

“Don’t say that to me,” Matteo told him, his voice breaking. “You are hurting me way more than Peter ever hurt me.” He reached up and wiped away the tears that had fallen, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “God, David, you talk about how you want love. You’re always looking for love, and I’m _here_. It’s standing right in front of you, and you can’t –”

“Matteo, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t fucking say you’re sorry.” Matteo snapped at him, choking back a sob. “You are not sorry, David. You think you’re this good guy and you’re not.” He took a step away from him, “You are not. You’re a fucking asshole.”

“Matteo,” David reached out for him but Matteo took another step back.

“No,” Matteo said, shaking his head. “I don’t fucking give a shit.” He told David, waving away whatever else he was going to say. He turned away, glad that at least he’d kept his jacket on so he didn’t have a reason to go back upstairs because he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing freely anymore. 


	9. We’re Just Going For It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all, sorry for this super late update. We’re almost at the end now! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I actually really like it. I’ll see you on the next one! 
> 
> I feel the need to put a trigger warning cause the chapter, in my opinion, is a little heavy with some stuff. So, trigger warning for mentions of Matteo’s previous depressive episodes, not eating, and excessive drinking. 
> 
> Thank you, once again, to my best friend Renee for helping me and being my unofficial beta reader lol ❤️❤️
> 
> Also, yeah, I was inspired by Euphoria lol

The fall from David was much worse than Matteo had ever thought it would be. 

He wanted to talk to David. He wanted to hear his voice and feel his arms around him, to hear him say that he would be okay. But David wasn’t there because David didn’t want him. 

David didn’t love Matteo. 

_ “Well, I love you, dumbass. Do you love me?”_

He’d said those words to him and he’d meant it, with every part of him, Matteo had meant it.

No matter how much he tried not to think of it, last night’s end kept mercilessly running through his mind and he couldn’t stop seeing David’s tortured expression when he told him that he loved him. 

His own broken words kept echoing through his mind and had triggered an ache in his chest that he’d never felt before. He remembered David’s eyes as he looked at him while he begged him to not let them go knowing Matteo had never begged anyone in his life to stay with him, not even his father. _ Seeing _ how much it was hurting him and letting him go anyway.

Matteo was on the sofa now, clutching David’s pillow to his chest as tightly as he could, hoping that it would stop the ache that wouldn’t leave. Hoping that it would stop the tears that hadn’t stopped since they’d begun hours before on that sidewalk. 

When he got home, he’d started off in his bedroom, expecting to sleep at some point. But in the few weeks that they’d been together, David already had his spot on Matteo’s bed and no matter how hard he tried to make himself comfortable, the emptiness could not be ignored. 

Matteo had gotten up and stared at David’s side of the bed where he’d been sleeping just a few days ago and he wanted so badly to lay there and clutch the pillow that he was sure smelled of David and to stay there until it didn’t anymore. But, Matteo couldn’t bring himself to lay down again. Instead, he grabbed David’s pillow and brought it with him to the living room. 

Matteo blamed himself for believing that it would be different with him. For expecting anything else from David, who always ran away. Because of course, he would run away from such a mess. 

  
  


Jonas had been the first to stop by when Matteo hadn’t responded to his text messages asking him why he’d suddenly left Sara and Leonie’s. Matteo vaguely remembered seeing Jonas and the others there, too focused on David’s mood to greet anyone else except Sara and Leonie. 

It seemed that Jonas had connected the dots throughout the one-sided text conversation. His final message had informed Matteo that he was on his way with some drinks but when Jonas reached, he’d rung the doorbell and knocked for several minutes before he accepted that Matteo wasn’t going to answer the door. 

** _Jonas_ **

** _21:56_ **

_ I’ll give you some time to deal with this but if you don’t show signs of life in 2 days, I’m coming back. _

Matteo hadn’t responded.

  
When the sun rose the next day, Matteo was awake to see it. He’d finally managed to stop crying and he knew that his eyes were red and swollen but whenever he’d close his eyes to get some rest, David’s face would be there. 

David’s wide smile, his eyes bright and cheeks pink, his head tilted in the way Matteo loved. But it would quickly change to David from the night before, eyes filled with tears, brows pulled together, telling Matteo that he didn’t love him and didn’t want to hurt him and that he should’ve ended things before it went too far. 

He was awake at sunset and then at sunrise the next day. 

He couldn’t bring himself to get up and get food but that didn’t matter because he had no appetite. He needed to use the bathroom but the thought of walking down the hall and entering the bathroom exhausted him and seeing his reflection was almost revolting. He didn’t want to see how pathetic he looked, he didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to think, he didn’t want to feel anything but the ache coming from his full bladder.

When the sun was shining brightly through the windows, Matteo forced himself to turn away from the light. When he brought the pillow up to his nose to inhale the little bit of David he still had left, a horrible realization crossed his mind and his eyes immediately began to sting with the tears he thought he’d run out of.

Not only did he lose David as his boyfriend, but he also lost him as his friend.  
  


Jonas had kept his promise and was at Matteo’s door the next day, knocking and ringing the bell until it was clear Matteo wasn’t going to answer. That wasn’t going to stop him. 

Years ago, Matteo had given Jonas, Amira, and David a key to his apartment for days like this. When he first moved in, he had just started therapy after a particularly hard couple of months he spent mostly high or drunk. All his friends had sat him down to talk to him about his depressive episodes and how he needed to do something about it. Although it wasn’t the first time they’d experienced Matteo’s withdrawal from the world, it was the first time he was going to live alone and deal with it. 

So he’d gathered them one night and handed them a key with a small smile and a simple, “Just in case,” as an explanation. No one had said anything; they didn’t have to. 

Matteo listened to the door unlock and heard Jonas shuffle inside, moving carefully as if he was carrying something in his arms. He locked the door behind him and set his key on the hook by the door, placing whatever he had in his arms down. Matteo listened as he walked down the hall to his bedroom expecting him to be there like all the times before. 

“Matteo?” He said before he opened the door and was met with the empty room. Matteo groaned and he listened as Jonas turned around and quickly walked back, finally seeing Matteo curled up on the sofa, still dressed in his clothes from the wedding.

“Have you been there for the last 2 days?” He asked as he tentatively moved around the sofa to crouch near his head. “Come on, you have to get up.” He told him softly.

“I can’t,” Matteo’s voice was so hoarse he wondered if Jonas had even understood him when he took a second to respond. 

“Yes, you can. I’ll help you.” Jonas offered, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“I really need to pee,” Matteo said, tears thick in his throat, probably making it even harder to understand his words. “but I can’t move.”

None of them knew how long Matteo would’ve stayed on the sofa if Jonas didn’t show up to help him. The pain from Matteo’s bladder had been the only thing that had distracted him from thoughts of David and he didn’t want to go back to thinking about him again. Not yet.

Jonas had taken the pillow out of his arms and pulled Matteo upright. He’d guided him slowly to the bathroom and helped him out of his clothes and into the shower. 

“David thinks it’s gross to pee in the shower,” Matteo muttered suddenly to Jonas, unable to stop himself from remembering their conversation the night everything changed. 

“What?” Jonas scoffed. “No, it’s not!” He said, sounding surprised to hear Matteo talk about David so soon, but he changed the subject immediately. “I bought groceries and I’m going to make you some breakfast.” He informed him, “I’ll get you a change of clothes and leave it here on the toilet.” 

Jonas didn’t close the door behind him when he left, probably worried that Matteo would lock himself in there if he did, and when he returned with his clothes he told him again that he was gonna make him food.

When Matteo was finished, he made his way to the kitchen and sat on the barstool at the counter. Jonas had picked out one of his old sweaters for him to wear and some sweatpants and he didn’t want to admit it, but he felt better. Cozy. 

The windows were opened now, the morning sun was filling the room and the smell of the American pancakes Jonas was making was actually appealing to Matteo. He was surprised that his stomach growled in response, although it made sense since the last time he properly ate was at lunch 2 days ago. 

“Here,” Jonas set a plate of sausage and a plate of pancakes in front of him, followed by a glass of orange juice. “Try to take it easy. Too much food at one time is gonna make you throw up.”

Apparently, Jonas connected the dots on Matteo not eating for days too. His eyes stung again but Matteo pushed back the tears and took a sip of the juice before digging in.

They didn’t say anything to each other, the only sound being Matteo’s chewing as he ate. Jonas grabbed a plate too and sat beside him on the other stool, both sitting in companionable silence. When Matteo finished eating, he pushed the plate away and leaned on his elbow as he turned to look at Jonas.

“When’s Amira coming?” He asked, knowing that she had to show up at some point today because that was usually how it happened. One would show up alone as a way to not crowd Matteo, and the other would show up later and then they would talk.

“After lunch.” Jonas’s response was soft, careful.

Matteo yawned as he nodded. “Okay.”

“Have you taken your meds?” Jonas asked after a while, and Matteo shook his head. 

“Not since...” He whispered, trailing off at the end. 

“Okay.” Jonas stood up and left the room. It wasn’t long until he returned with Matteo’s medication and another cup of juice before he began with the dishes. 

Matteo’s entire body was exhausted. The last two days of not sleeping were catching up to him now and he just wanted to sleep. He quickly took his medication and walked over to the sofa, choosing to sit down instead of laying on it, scared that he might not want to move again. 

“I didn’t expect to…” he began to say when Jonas came to sit beside him. “I didn’t think I would react like this.”

Although his voice was still a bit rough, it was much easier to understand him now. Jonas reached over and ruffled his hair. Matteo knew he wanted to ask what happened, to wrap his arms around Matteo, and tell him everything would be okay, but he didn’t want to push. He would wait until Amira was there with them. 

“It’s some bullshit,” Jonas said, his voice soft again. 

Matteo chuckled half-heartedly and nodded. “It really is.” 

  
  


He didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep, but suddenly he was opening his eyes and he could see that it was dark. The windows were closed, a lamp near him was on, and his house was filled with the aroma of Amira’s cooking. He was still sitting, apparently having fallen asleep with his head resting on the back of the sofa. He pushed himself up and made his way to the kitchen where he was met by Amira and Jonas, who were quietly discussing when they were gonna wake him. 

“I’m already awake,” Matteo said loud enough for them to hear, exaggerating his yawn. “I guess the smell of food woke me up, Amira.” He reached over to her and hugged her before sitting down. “Soup?” He asked her, raising his eyebrows in amusement. “I guess my soul needs it now, huh?” 

“Soup is also good for a broken heart.” She said and her voice was so soft, Matteo already wanted to cry again. 

As if she could read his mind, she quickly added, “But we don’t have to talk about that now if you don’t want to, Habibi.” She reached over and placed her hand on top of his, giving it a small squeeze before pulling it away. 

Matteo nodded and rubbed his eyes and then pushed his hands up in his hair to move it from his face. “It’s my fault for expecting anything else from David.” He said, and even though it hurt to say it out loud, it was true.

Amira and Jonas shared a look but said nothing, waiting for him to continue. 

“I told him that I love him,” Matteo said, clearing his throat. “And he said he had doubts so I told him doubts were okay. Then he asked me how I was okay with us suddenly being in a relationship and I told him that this had been going on for some time now.” He paused, remembering David’s expression, “I don’t think he believed me, though.” His eyes stung and his throat was tightening up. Jonas wrapped an arm around his shoulder and scooted closer to him. 

Matteo cleared his throat again and continued, “And then he said he didn’t want to hurt me like Peter did and should’ve ended it a long time ago.” He sighed deeply, looking over at the cabinets to avoid Amira and Jonas’ eyes. “I don’t understand this feeling. I know I’ve done this before - not being able to move and disappearing for a long time but this doesn’t feel the same.”

“I don’t think what happened this weekend was,” Jonas gestured at the sofa. “I don’t think this was like before. It doesn’t - it doesn’t seem to be lingering as much as the last one, and you look weighed down but not like usual?” He frowned, struggling to think of the right words.

Amira was nodding, already caught up with Jonas’ thoughts. “I agree. Although I don’t like that you didn’t take your meds for two days,” she said sternly, but paused to turn his chin so he would meet her eyes, her tone soft again. “I think your heart is broken for the first time. Romantically.” She added the last part quickly, probably remembering everything he went through with his parents when he was in high school. 

Matteo wanted to cry, he could feel the tears already forming. He looked at Jonas who also looked like he was on the brink of tears, and Amira whose expression was so gentle and understanding. 

“I don’t think so either. It’s rough but it’s not the same.” The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t feel heartbreak for Peter. Of course, he would feel it for David. This was new, this type of emptiness. How long would it stay?   
  


***

David could imagine it for himself, getting married. He could see himself at the front waiting for his future spouse to walk toward him all dressed up. He could see himself leaning in to kiss them, feeling at peace, in love, overwhelmed but in the best way. He would kiss them with certainty, without a hint of doubt in his mind. 

He’d pictured it with everyone he was ever with. He imagined the way he would feel when their lips met in the middle, how their family would cheer for them, and how the familiar bright blue eyes would look back at him when he opened his eyes to grin widely at him. Those blue eyes paired with the softest smile and hair that was not as chaotic as it usually was. 

_ “Mazel tov!” _ David heard everyone around him yell, startling him from his thoughts. His eyes quickly fell on the bride and groom as they sealed their marriage with a kiss and he was suddenly filled with an emotion he didn’t understand as he thought back to his imagination - to those eyes. 

When everyone clapped for the bride and groom, David clapped numbly. When it was time to move, David shuffled out of his seat and followed the crowd to the reception area where he’d take his seat at the singles table once again. So it went for the rest of the night. He would follow the others, dance along when he was supposed to, and laugh when he should. Keeping up the show.

There were times when he couldn’t pretend, though. Like when he would find himself searching the room for a face that wouldn’t be there. Or when the only room he could book came with 2 beds. Or like now, when he was alone at the table with no one to talk to because everyone else was dancing and laughing. 

Matteo’s broken expression flashed through his head again, shocking him with the ache that hadn’t left since that night. It had been two weeks now and he didn’t understand what was happening. When it came to ending relationships he was unsure of, he would do it quickly without looking back. He wanted perfect, he wanted happiness, he wanted forever and if it didn’t feel like it would be that, he was done.

This one was different, though. Was it because he and Matteo were friends before? Because they were best friends? He wasn’t sure. 

David sighed and grabbed a drink from a tray as it passed by, downing it and hoping that it would be enough to make him forget, even if just for a little while. 

He tried to find someone to talk to, to continue him and Matteo’s quest to find _ the one _ but it wasn’t the same. Any conversation he started ended quickly and he couldn’t even bring himself to care very much. He’d drink a cup or two and move on to someone else that didn’t care about what he had to say, who didn’t think his jokes and impressions were funny. Eventually, David would admit defeat and return to his hotel room alone. And as he laid in bed alone, he would wonder how Matteo was doing and he would get his phone to text him but would quickly change his mind. 

At the next wedding 2 weeks later, he decided to be more positive. No one would want to talk to someone who looked so miserable. He knew Mohammed and Amira were there somewhere around because Amira was friends with the bride but he wasn’t sure if either of them would want to see him right now. He knew there was always a risk when it came to friends dating that when they broke up, the others would have to take sides. He accepted that, but it still sucked.

David was on his third drink. No. David was on his fourth drink. Or was it five? Six? He couldn’t remember when he’d started but his legs were heavy and he couldn’t focus on the ceremony so he had to be a few in. 

As time passed, and as the family of the bride performed a very cringy flash mob dance that David tried very hard not to laugh at, David found himself thoroughly drunk. He felt his body stand up and walk towards the dance floor, moving haphazardly with the beat of the music that was playing. 

He felt his body drift and a small part of his brain knew that he was making a fool of himself but it wasn’t worth the worry. 

David swayed around, vaguely registering the people that moved out of his way so they wouldn’t be hit by his outstretched arms as he danced, and despite the fact that he didn’t want to think about it, his mind drifted to Matteo. 

Matteo’s smile and his bright mischievous eyes. The way Matteo would try his best to make David laugh whenever he was uncomfortable and how, if he was here, they’d probably be doing this together. 

David wasn’t sure when he started bumping into the other people around him but he heard himself giggle and apologize each time, his voice coming out louder than it needed to be. 

After a while, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders and he was being pulled away from the dancefloor, a familiar voice carefully saying his name. 

“Uh, David?” Mohammed said, his voice soft as he tried to keep David next to him, but David was strong and he resisted. “David, come on. Let’s get you some water.”

“What?” David whined as he tried to pull away from him, but Mohammed was also strong _ and _ he had the advantage of not being drunk and clumsy. “I’m just dancing!” 

Mohammed gripped his shoulder and rolled his eyes, “No,” He said tentatively, “you’re being that idiot at the wedding.”

“What?” David grumbled, finally giving up.

“Being _ that _ guy.”

“That guy?” David repeated, frowning.

“Yeah,” Mohammed muttered, “It’s not great. Come on.” He steered them over to a bench in the shade, away from the others and the loud music but close enough that they could see them. “Take a seat,” Mohammed instructed before he turned back to get him some water.

When he returned, David was squinting up at the clouds, thinking that one of them looked like a bird he once drew. His eyes drifted over to Mohammed and he took the water bottle when it was handed to him. He felt exhausted. Whatever it was that was keeping him going, whether it was the alcohol or the need to keep up the performance, was fading away. 

“What are you doing?” Mohammed asked him.

“What?” David asked, shrugging. “I’m having a good time-”

“No, you aren’t.” He shook his head, “That’s not fun.”

David opened his mouth to disagree, but Mohammed cut him off. 

“_That _ did not look like you were having fun, David.” 

His tone was serious and he was looking at David in a way that David didn’t understand. Pity, maybe? He didn’t like it. 

“I’m having -_ I’m having a ball_,” David told him sarcastically, his words coming out a bit slurred. “I’m having a regular old ball of a time, Mohammed. I’m _ flying solo_.” He bumped his shoulder against Mohammed’s and grinned.

Mohammed’s unamused eyes met his and he nodded, “Sure.”

“It’s great,” David said, trying to keep his voice upbeat. “Where’s Amira? I saw you two earlier.” He asked, changing the subject. “Does she hate me now?” David joked but Mohammed didn’t laugh.

“Amira could never hate you,” Mohammed responded. “She’s a bit upset - confused too, but so am I.” 

Mohammed paused and David knew what was coming next.

“What happened?” He asked and David sighed, his mind going back to that night and Matteo’s tear-streaked face.

“We sort of imploded,” He said after a while but shook his head quickly. “No, um, I imploded it.”

“Why?” 

David looked around them, trying to find the words that wouldn’t make him sound like an asshole. “I don’t know.” He said eventually, “I don’t know if I can be with him, you know, forever.”

Mohammed sighed and shook his head, “Oh.” He said simply.

“What?”

“You know how sometimes you can be dumb?” 

“Yes?”

“I think these weddings are making you dumber.” 

David snorted and rolled his eyes “Yeah. Maybe no more weddings. They’re bad for me.” He agreed, laughing when Mohammed nodded. 

“If I get invited to another one, I’m gonna be like ‘_Hey, no, thank you!’_ okay? I can’t go.” David laughed again but it was short and humorless, “I can’t do it. It’s just like, why is everybody so in love and just so - so _ sure_?”

“They’re not, though.”

“What?” David scoffed. “What are you talking about?” He asked, turning to face him fully. “You have never had doubts about Amira.”

“Why would you say that?” Mohammed asked, turning to face him as well. “How do you know? Do you watch us all the time? Do you have a camera set up in our house?”

David rolled his eyes, “Jesus, okay.” 

“We’re not perfect, David,” Mohammed said seriously, “We’re just going for it. We don’t know, who does, really?”

“So then what’s the point?” 

Mohammed grinned, his brown eyes shining. “Because it’s fun, you know?” He laughed and his eyes drifted over to where everyone else was and when David followed, he saw Amira laughing and chatting with some guests. 

“It is.” Mohammed continued, “And it’s nice to tell someone that you’re in and to say it to their face in front of this room full of people.” He turned to look at David again, a soft smile on his lips. “And it’s nice to hear it back.” 

David looked away, thinking over his words. 

“Look, man, I love you. You’re the best. But you’re not that great.” Mohammed reached over and placed his hand on David’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Right now you’re kinda like that guy in an ice cream store who samples every single flavor before he picks one. That guy sucks.”

“But how can I know what’s best, though?” David asked, thinking back to Matteo’s confession. Remembering the way he begged him to give them a chance. Begged him to try. Then he remembered further back, to when they woke up reaching for each other’s warmth. How David usually woke up grumpy but not when he was with Matteo and how they’d only been together for a short time but already, David had trouble sleeping without him.

“You won’t,” Mohammed responded. 

He thought of the way Matteo so easily told him he loved him and how he couldn’t begin to understand what he felt when he heard him say that. David had gone through the last few years searching for the perfect person, setting impossibly high expectations like his friends constantly pointed out, so sure that he would just _ know _ when the right person came along. 

But Matteo was _ right there,_ as he so aptly told David, standing right in front of him and he couldn’t see it.

“Shit.” David said suddenly, “I fucked up.”

“Yes,” Mohammed replied, “you did.”


	10. A Medium Speech

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Late again, but I don't think anyone is surprised at this point. Thank you all so much for reading and keeping up with this fic despite the lateness of every chapter. I hope you enjoy this one!  
\- Thank you for the comments and the kudos - they literally get me through the day!  
\- Thank you again to my, I guess at this point, official beta reader & best friend Renee! Most of this stuff would not have happened without you <3

** _Peter_ **

** _Today _ **

_ Are you in town? _

_ Can we meet up and get some coffee? _

_ I need to talk to you. _

  
  


Matteo stared at the messages as they came through, one behind the other while he tried so hard to ignore them. He wasn’t sure if someone told Peter about what had happened with David, but his texts had been coming in more often and more insistent and more pathetic, in his opinion. Or at least, they were pathetic before. 

Now, though, when the text messages came through, Matteo didn’t understand the way it was making him feel anymore. He’d felt open and vulnerable these past few days and he knew this wouldn’t be a good idea, he knew he shouldn’t open the messages and instead just delete them like he usually did or mark them as read days later when he got tired of seeing the notifications. 

He pictured Amira giving him one of her looks and telling him to go home, but his phone sounded off again and when he looked at the message, his heart ached. 

** _Peter_ **

_ Please? _

His mind drifted to his empty apartment and the deafening silence and Matteo decided it would be best to do anything else than be alone or bother one of his friends. Turning on his heels, Matteo heads to the cafe they used to frequent. 

He knew that, at the end of the day, no matter how many times he tried to fight it – he doesn’t want to be alone. 

** _Peter _ **

_ Okay _

_ Be there in 5 _

  
  
  
  


***

David fucked up and he knew it. He knew it while he was doing it, knew it while he watched Matteo walk away from him, knew it when he didn’t reach out and stop him from leaving. He couldn’t believe that he’d been so blind to everything. 

As he drove to the next wedding he was invited to, the one he’d told Matteo he wouldn’t be going to on that awful night, he wondered if Matteo would be angry with him. Usually, Matteo was not one to hold a grudge and he rarely ever raised his voice unless he was playing. This situation was different, though, and if he was at the wedding today and he wanted to yell at David, David would take it. 

David wasn’t sure that showing up would be enough to convince Matteo to try again with him, but he was willing to try. Between this wedding and the one from before, David debated with his sister if he should contact Matteo before attending. Of course, Laura encouraged him to communicate with Matteo, but he didn’t listen. Every time his fingers moved to write Matteo a text or to call him, he couldn’t bring himself to press any buttons. 

It would be pathetic, wouldn’t it? To send him a text telling him he wanted him back or that he wanted to meet. He wouldn’t be any different than Peter, who Matteo had been ignoring for this exact reason. Well, for that and because he was already with David. Already all in when David was doubting everything. 

“Why are you so fucking stupid?” David muttered to himself as he turned a corner a little too sharply. His hands immediately reached out for the flowers in the passenger seat, grabbing onto them so they wouldn’t fall. 

Tulips. Matteo had scoffed at him when he’d told him he didn’t understand the point of giving someone flowers that would die in just a few days. 

_ “It’s not about how long they last. It’s about how it feels to get a big fucking sack of tulips!” _Matteo had almost shouted, laughing. 

So now, as David glanced at the flowers to make sure they were okay, he hoped Matteo would understand what he was saying when he presented him with the tulips. He knew it wouldn’t be enough and that Matteo would probably have trouble believing him so quickly, but he just needed an in. He needed a chance to explain himself. 

When he finally got to the church and found a parking spot as close as he could, David carefully grabbed the flowers and half ran to the building, hoping to catch Matteo before he found his seat inside.

David stood at the entrance, flowers in his hand, with his feet tapping against the ground as he scanned all the faces that entered the building. A few people who knew him said hello as they passed by, but David paid them little attention. He was looking for the messy blonde hair he knew so well. 

“David.” A familiar voice said from behind him, sounding surprised, and he turned around to meet Amira’s equally surprised expression.

“Hey, Amira, how are you?” He asked distractedly. He didn’t want to be rude to her, but he really didn’t want to miss Matteo. He wanted – no, he _needed _to see him. 

“What are you doing here, David?” She asked, looking him over and zeroing on the flowers. The tone of her voice made David look fully at her, smiling guiltily when she spoke again. “I heard you were busy?”

“My schedule cleared up,” He lied, gripping the flowers, sure that she probably didn’t believe him. Amira’s bullshit detector was always strong. “Something wrong?” He asked her, confused at her expression. Did she not want him here? Mohammed said she wasn’t angry at him.

Amira pursed her lips, pausing as if to collect her thoughts. “Well,” she said, “have you seen Matteo?”

David shook his head, a brim of hope finally coming through. Maybe she could take him to Matteo. “No, have you? I’m looking for him. Did he come?” 

Amira glanced at the flowers again, which David was now holding close to his chest, and the smallest wrinkle appeared on her brow for a second before it disappeared and she looked at him again. “David, I think you should–”

“David?”

There it was. The voice he hadn’t heard in weeks, saying his name and he didn’t sound angry, just surprised. Maybe it would work out in his favor. 

“Matteo,” David said quickly as he turned around, relief flooding through his body just knowing he was there. His eyes met Matteo’s blue ones and for a split second, everything was right in the world. He would give Matteo the flowers and they would go inside together and talk about everything later. It would work out.

But then his eyes drifted over to who was standing beside him, with his arm around his waist. “Peter,” David said, his eyes moving from his to Matteo’s and then back to Peter again trying to figure out why he was there. Why he was touching Matteo like nothing happened. 

“David,” Peter said, his tone was casual but David could see the tension around his eyes. “How are you doing, dude?” 

He paused, hesitating, his eyes moving to Matteo for an explanation but Matteo looked away. “I’m good,” David replied, unable to come up with anything else and suddenly feeling hollow.

“Hi, Peter,” Amira said beside him and David understood why she seemed off when she saw him. Did she know Matteo would be coming here with him? Did Mohammed? He turned to look at her and the expression she wore – a wide smile that didn’t reach her eyes, and the slight twitch of her lip when Peter moved to greet her with a hug – told David that yes, they did know. Of course, they did.

“Hi, Amira,” Peter greeted her and when she was hugging him, David noticed Amira and Matteo briefly looked at each other before looking away without exchanging any words. 

“I thought you couldn’t come to this one,” Matteo said casually, finally meeting his eyes.

“Yeah. I, uh,” His eyes flickered over to Peter who was watching them, “moved my thing.” He finished and Matteo nodded, but David knew he could tell that was bullshit.

“Those flowers for me?” Peter joked, or at least he tried to. David had been around Peter long enough to know when he was trying to ask something serious, but pass it off as a joke. 

David looked down at the flowers that were still in his hand. He wasn’t clutching them close anymore, instead, they were at his side where his hands had fallen when he saw them together. “Oh, uh, no. They’re for– they’re for, um…” He struggled, trying to think of a name, of a person, _ literally anyone_, but his mind stayed blank.

“They’re mine,” Amira announced, putting her hand out and smiling widely at Peter and then at David. “I love tulips.” She added, “Thank you for remembering, David.”

David frowned, confused for the shortest second before he understood that Amira was rescuing him. “Oh, yes, of course.” He said quickly, “Here you go.” David handed her the flowers, forcing the most authentic smile he could muster and Amira thanked him once more. 

He turned to look at Matteo, to try, once again, to understand what he was feeling, to communicate with him that he needed to talk to him. But Matteo refused to look at him and then Amira grabbed his arm and pulled him away from them with a quick, “Let’s go find Mohammed.” 

David let Amira pull him to their seats and stayed quiet the entire ceremony. He couldn’t see Matteo from where Amira had sat them down, but he knew he was in there somewhere. He wanted to look around and see him. To check and see if he was looking for him too. 

At times it felt like there were eyes on him and when he couldn’t help it, he’d glance around until his gaze landed on Peter’s arms around Matteo’s shoulders holding him close. If Matteo noticed that he was being watched, David couldn’t tell. Matteo only kept his eyes forward, nodding if Peter whispered something in his ear or reacting with a sweet smile that made David’s chest ache.

When it was done, Amira grabbed his arm again and pulled him to the reception area. David knew that Amira wouldn’t let him out of her sight, but he also knew that eventually, she’d have to. The Cartelli family was friends with hers and she would have to say hello to them at some point during the night. 

When they entered the room where the reception was being held, they quickly realized that there was no way they could avoid seeing Matteo and Peter. The table across from them was where Peter and Matteo had been assigned to sit, and while David knew he couldn’t be angry at anyone in particular for it, he still silently cursed the Cartelli’s for being a part of his torment. Yes, it was almost completely all his fault, but why did they have to have such a shit seating arrangement? 

When a tray passed with drinks, David grabbed one and drank it without tasting it. For now, though, seating arrangements aside, they had to get through the best man’s speech. What was once David’s favorite part of a wedding, whether he made fun of them or not, was now hitting a bit too close to home as he listened to Cartelli’s older brother, Amir, complain about his brother marrying before him and how he thought it would be him first. At some point, he spoke with the mic so far away from his face that someone yelled out for him to speak louder and it didn’t even make David crack a smile.

He knew Amira and Mohammed were watching him, they probably wanted to say something to him about the entire situation, but he didn’t even know what to say so they stayed silent. Their other friends had stopped by and he assumed they already knew what had happened with them and what was currently happening. He noticed that they were splitting their time with him and Matteo, but they didn’t stay long with either of them. With Matteo, it was definitely because no one liked Peter and with David, well, he was probably just a huge bummer.

David wondered again if Matteo could tell that he was being watched. He watched as Peter laughed along with the people at the table with them, people who David didn’t recognize, his arms resting loosely on Matteo’s shoulders. He couldn’t tell if Matteo was enjoying himself or not since his back was turned but he hoped Matteo would get up soon. He hoped he would give him a chance to fight for him.

After a few upbeat songs, a slower song sounded through the speakers and David watched as Peter pulled Matteo to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around him. David felt his throat tightening up as he watched them sway close together. 

How could he let himself be here again? Watching someone hold Matteo closely and wishing it was him. Everyone had circled around him but were pretending it was for something else, and Sam was rubbing his back, trying to comfort him but it didn’t help. He knew he didn’t deserve it, but he appreciated them being around him, appreciated the support, appreciated that they were trying to distract him from what was happening, but he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore. 

He was at another wedding all by himself with everyone laughing and seemingly having the time of their lives while he sat there miserable and alone and Matteo was with Peter. 

Maybe before he was able to pretend like it didn’t bother him that Matteo had someone, but he couldn’t anymore. Not after everything that happened in the last few months. The pain at what he was losing was too strong and he couldn’t take it. So David stood up, muttered an apology to the others, and walked out of the room.

He couldn’t handle that these were the consequences of his own actions and he wasn’t going to force himself to watch, but he wasn’t leaving. He grabbed a bottle of beer to keep him company while he waited in the small lobby outside of the reception area. 

If he had any luck at all, he could maybe catch Matteo before he left. David could not and would not let everything finish just like that. Not before he got to say what he needed to say. He was done pretending, even if he didn’t realize until recently that that was what he was doing before.

He’d been sitting alone sipping at his, now warm, beer, for what felt like forever now and watching as people walked in and out of the party to use the restroom. He tried to tell himself that everything would work out, to keep the positive attitude he’d had when he was driving earlier. But he could feel the panic building up and the drinking wasn’t helping. 

The best man had joined him and was spewing some nonsense that David wasn’t really listening to. He could tell that he seemed to be on the edge of panic when he said, “Do you think it’ll ever happen for us?”

David took a second to think the question over and his mind flashed back to Peter’s arm around Matteo. “I don’t know.” He answered honestly. 

“I don’t either,” Amir said and the panic returned again as he suggested he and David go out some time and be each other’s wingman. But, David had stopped listening because finally, after what felt like hours, he saw Matteo heading to the restroom. 

“Hey, um, I’ll be right back,” David said before quickly getting up and following behind Matteo.

It didn’t take long for Matteo to finish up and when he walked out of the restroom, David was there waiting for him.

“Hey,” Matteo greeted him, sounding surprised.

“Hi,” David responded.

“Do you need to use the little boys’ room?” Matteo jokingly asked and David chuckled nervously. 

“Uh, no.” He muttered, looking down at his shoes. Matteo hummed but said nothing, and David wondered if he was waiting for him to say something instead. “Those flowers were for you, by the way.” David eventually said, not wanting to wait in silence any longer.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Yeah…”

“I was surprised,” Matteo told him, meeting his eyes. “I thought you didn’t like the concept of flowers.”

David nodded, “Yeah, but I know you do.” He responded honestly. Matteo looked away, refusing to meet his eyes so David kept going. “Does he know about me?” He asked, gesturing at the party.

“Yeah.” Matteo told him, “He doesn’t love it. But, you know, he did cheat on me with someone he worked with so it kind of cancels it out.”

“Right,” David muttered and he took a deep breath, steeling himself. “Um, can I say something?” 

“Uh, no,” Matteo said quickly, already turning to leave. “I don’t think so.”

“I just need to say one thing and I’ll leave you alone, I swear.” David tried, the desperation obvious in the way he spoke. 

“I really can’t handle a big speech right now, David.” 

“It’s not a big speech,” He said quickly, “It’s a–a medium speech!”

Matteo sighed and looked away, but he didn’t leave so David took it as a go-ahead.

“Matteo, you were right.” He began, and he could feel the panic from before coming back but he pushed it down. “You were right about me. I’m an asshole.”

Those blue eyes were on him now, paying attention. 

“And you were right about these weddings.” David continued, “I–I can’t do them on my own. It’s impossible.”

“It’s because you’re lonely.” Matteo interrupted him, but David gave a sharp shake of his head to stop him before he could say anything else.

“No,” He said firmly. “It’s because you’re not there. You’re not there to insult everything that I do. You’re not there to make fun of groomsmen photos and– and vows and all that other bullshit.” He could feel his throat tightening up now as the words rushed out of him. “And you’re not there to order pasta at a _ fucking diner _.”

David noticed the way Matteo’s eyes were now glistening with tears and he knew he wasn’t far behind; his eyes were already stinging with the effort of putting his tears off until he was finished. “And the worst part about all of this is that you’re not there because I hurt you.” David’s voice cracked, but he kept going, “I hurt the _ one person _ that never deserved it and I pushed you away because I’m dumb and selfish and fuck me for being too late, but I love you, Matteo.”

“You love me?” Matteo whispered shakily.

“Of course,” David responded, desperately hoping Matteo believed him because it was true. He loved Matteo. No doubts, no second guesses. His love for Matteo, now finally said out loud, was something David would never question again.

“David, I really,” Matteo began to say, but suddenly Peter was there.

“Everything okay over here?” He asked, looking them both over. Matteo turned away and quickly wiped his eyes, composing himself. 

“Peter, can we just get five minutes?” David asked, there was more he needed to say. More he needed Matteo to know. He turned to Matteo, “What were you going to say?”

Matteo looked at him, eyes red-rimmed but his face was different now, distant. “I was going to say that I should really go back inside,” Matteo said, clearing his throat. “Bye, David,” He muttered, looking at him once more before turning away.

Peter nodded and looked away from David. He turned and jogged to catch up with Matteo, who was already opening the door to get back to the party. 

David watched as they disappeared into the room and he stood there, even as the door shut closing them in. Was this really the end of it? 

***

“Is this going to be a recurring thing with him?” Peter asked when he caught up to Matteo and Matteo felt his fingers brush against his, signaling that he wanted to hold his hand. 

“No,” Matteo said, moving his hand away so he wouldn’t touch him. He heard Peter scoff, but he didn’t say anything else and Matteo wasn’t interested in keeping the conversation going so he didn’t say anything either. 

When they got to the table, he sat down and waited for the sound and feel of Peter sitting next to him, but it never came. He turned his head and saw that Peter was watching him, his expression unreadable. 

“I’m going to get us something to drink,” He told him when Matteo raised his eyebrows in question, then turned away, leaving Matteo alone with his thoughts of David. 

He sat there, twiddling his thumbs and thinking. Earlier, when he’d gotten up to use the restroom, it was because he noticed that David had walked out of the room after Peter insisted on having them dance. 

Matteo guessed that David left after that, but a small part of him hoped he didn’t. It would be a lie to say that Matteo didn’t purposely go to the restroom in hopes of meeting David.

_ I love you, Matteo. _He’d said the words so clearly despite the tears in his eyes, but Matteo barely had time to think it over before Peter showed up. 

Now, though, as he sat there alone surrounded by people laughing and dancing along to music he couldn’t hear, he wondered if he could believe David. 

He knew that David took things like that seriously, which was why he was so quick to leave someone without looking back. Matteo had always laughed at how dismissive David was, but it wasn’t funny when he was on the receiving end. 

David had looked so handsome and, after weeks with no contact, Matteo’s heart soared when he saw him and heard his voice. All he wanted to do at that moment was pull him close and bury his face in his chest so he could breathe him in again, but then he remembered. 

Seeing David standing there with bright yellow tulips in his hand felt like such a slap to the face. How could he just show up like this? It was _David _that had made coming to this wedding into something big. At least he had the decency to look bashful when Matteo brought it up, and Matteo wanted to be angry with him some more for being there but he just couldn’t. 

Honestly, he actually hadn’t been planning to come here in the first place, but he did it at Peter’s insistence. He wondered, briefly, if Peter was regretting having them come here. 

After Matteo agreed to meet him, they spent the afternoon talking everything over and Peter apologized until Matteo told him to stop. Eventually, they’d gotten to the subject of David and how Peter noticed that they’d been together a lot the last few weeks and so Matteo told him about David. He thought it would be nice to see Peter hurt over Matteo being with someone else like how he was, but in reality, it hurt Matteo more to bring it up.

Amira, as expected, was not happy when Matteo told her about it. She wouldn’t tell him how to live his life or insult him about his choices, but she made it clear that she did not approve. Jonas wasn’t a fan of the situation either, but so far Matteo hadn’t spent much time thinking about his friends' opinions. 

“Here you go,” Peter said when he returned and he set the drink in front of Matteo before sitting down. 

“Thank you,” Matteo muttered, and the silence settled around them again while Matteo’s mind drifted to David once more.

“Do you want to dance?” Peter asked.

“No, I don’t really feel like it,” Matteo told him, giving him an apologetic smile. 

“Okay,” Peter responded and he reached over, placing his arm around Matteo’s shoulders. “We can just sit here and chat, then.” He added, grinning at him before picking a random topic.

Matteo wondered as he nodded along to Peter’s words if Peter heard what David told him. He definitely knew the flowers from earlier were for him and not for Amira, but he didn’t ask any questions. Was he angry or was he just going to ignore it? 

When Matteo and David were standing there, facing each other, nothing else in the world was there. Matteo couldn’t hear the music that was playing loudly a few feet away or see the people that were passing by them on the way to the restroom or wherever. All there was, all he could see, was David.

David, who looked sad, but hopeful. David, who rushed through his words, who was visibly distressed. David, who brought flowers for Matteo because he knew he liked them. An ache Matteo had been feeling and ignoring in his chest for weeks made itself known again and he wanted to cry as he thought of the tears that had sprung to David’s eyes.

_ And fuck me for being too late, but I love you, Matteo. _

Was it too late, though? 

Matteo looked around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of David with their friends and when he didn’t find him with them, he turned to the table he’d seen him at before but found it empty. Did he leave or was he just sitting outside again like before?

“Peter,” Matteo said, interrupting him.

“Yeah?” 

“I have to go.”

“Okay,” Peter responded slowly, “let’s just say goodbye to everyone and we can–”

“No,” Matteo said quickly and looked him in the eyes, “I have to go. Not you.”

Peter stared at him, his brown eyes going from confused to understanding. “You’re going to him, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He responded simply. There was no reason to lie. Matteo waited for Peter to be angry, to tell him no. But instead, after studying his face for a few seconds, Peter nodded.

“Don’t screw it up.” He said and there was no malice in his voice. He reached over and placed his hand on Matteo’s head, messing his hair up a little before pulling away and smiling a sad smile. “Goodbye, Matteo.”

A few months ago, Matteo would’ve been disappointed by how he didn’t fight for him. But today, right now, all he wanted to do was go to David. “Goodbye, Peter.” He said and then he was rushing out of the room in search of David.

***

David left. Of course, he would leave. Surely no one would expect him to stay there and watch Matteo happily be with Peter. Peter and his brown eyes and dark hair that flopped around whenever he moved around.

He didn’t know if he wanted to scream or cry after being rejected by Matteo. In the end, this was his fault and if Matteo was happy being back together with – he couldn’t even think of his name anymore. But if he was happy, David wouldn’t interfere.

David wasn’t sure where he was going until he got to his father’s street. He’d driven without a destination in mind, but whatever part of him that was actually paying attention to the road brought him here, to his dad's. 

There were lights on as he parked his car and stepped out, and he hoped it meant his dad would be awake. Even if he wasn’t, though, he’d wake him up. It’s what his dad did to him most of the time, anyway.

“David?” His dad asked when he answered the door. He was dressed in the clothes he usually wore when he played golf with his friends, and he looked a little out of it. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry for coming so late.” David began, looking him over. “I just needed someone to talk to and I ended up here. Why are you dressed like that?”

His dad looked down at what he was wearing like he forgot, and laughed. “Oh! Tonight was my bachelor party with the guys.” He explained and David felt a pang of guilt, “We got high and went nuts!” He told him happily and David just stared at him.

“Why?”

“Well, it was my bachelor party, David.”

David sighed and shook his head, the guilt still there, but his father didn’t look like he cared. “Are you going to let me inside?”

His dad grinned at him and moved so he could get inside the house. It was unusually quiet, even if it was late.

“Gina is having her bachelorette party with her sister and the kids are with Laura.” His dad explained as if he could read his mind. David felt bad for Laura having to deal with the boys all by herself, but they did seem to like her very much so they were probably okay. He’s glad he didn’t head that way, though.

David nodded and followed his dad into the kitchen, where he saw a mixing bowl sitting on the counter with a box of waffle mix next to it. “How come you’re having your bachelor party so early? The wedding isn’t until next week?”

His dad shrugged and got back to his mixing bowl, “Why not?”

David rolled his eyes. “That’s not how it works, though.” He told him and when his father shrugged again, David dropped the subject. His dad had been married twice before, he knew what he was doing, and if he wanted to switch it up, who was David to stop him? 

“You know, I’m so glad you’re my best man, David.” His father said as he walked around the kitchen in search of something.

David guessed the drugs he’d taken were still affecting him a little bit when he watched his father stare into a cabinet before walking away from it empty-handed and then return to it to get the waffle iron.

“I’m not your best man, dad.” David reminded him; he wasn’t even at his bachelor party. His mind was clouded by everything that was going on with Matteo that he didn’t even _think _about his father's upcoming wedding, much less whatever speech he needed to write for him. 

His father scoffed, “Yes, you are.”

David stood up to help him when his father struggled to plug the waffle iron in. It probably wasn’t a good idea for his father to be high and deal with hot objects. Once he helped him, his dad placed an arm around his shoulder.

“You are the _best_, man.” He said and laughed loudly. “Best man. Now I get why it’s called that!”

David rolled his eyes and groaned, embarrassed that his father actually said that out loud. He had a smart response for his dad, but he kept going.

“I look forward to you getting married.” He said, grinning at him. “Do you think it’s going to be Matteo?” 

David blinked at him and he realized when he said his name that he’d managed to forget about everything for a few minutes as he watched his dad, but now the ache was back. “No, dad.” He told him honestly, his mind flashing to Peter and Matteo holding each other close on the dance floor. 

“Why not?” He asked, “He’s so fun!”

David turned away from his dad to grab the mixing bowl and not look at him, “We broke up.” He said, not looking at him.

“Oh, no.” He heard his father say, “That’s too bad.”

When he turned around, his father was watching him carefully, but he didn’t say anything. He let David scoop the mixture into the waffle iron and didn’t say anything until the first waffle was out.

“David.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you hate Gina?” 

“What?” David asked, surprised. “No, dad.” 

His dad grabbed his shoulder and turned him so they were facing each other. “Tell me the truth.” He said seriously. “Do you hate Gina?” 

“I don’t hate Gina,” David said slowly, frowning at his dad. 

“Then why are you so mad about us?” 

David stared at him, thinking his question over. Did he really want to talk about this tonight? After everything that happened today? “I’m not mad, dad.” He began, and he turned to focus on the waffles before continuing. “Sometimes it’s just a little bit hard to root for you.” He said, “When you and mom split, it really messed me up. I’m not sure about how Laura took it, but so much was happening and you two just – divorced.”

David looked over at his father to see how he was reacting to it, but his father was just listening to him carefully so he kept going.

“I just decided I didn’t want to be like you two. I just wanted to find,” He wanted to cringe at the next words he was going to say, but he powered through, “to find _ the one _ and then hang on to them forever.” David sighed and looked away when he felt his eyes stinging, “And now I’m completely alone.” He muttered. “While you’re just moving on to your next family.”

“David,” His father said after giving him a minute to breathe, “I’m sorry that your mother and I splitting up hurt you so much.” His voice was soft, understanding. “What she and I had was great. I’d be nothing if I hadn’t met her, and I wouldn’t have you and Laura.” 

David’s father pulled him close, resting his chin on his shoulder. “And as long as I’m alive, you will never be alone. You hear me?” 

The words set something off in him, freeing whatever it was that he’d kept in, and David wrapped his arms around his father, feeling the tension leave his body when his father held on tightly as the tears flowed.

He let everything he’d been feeling the last few weeks out. The confusion, the anger, the heartbreak at seeing Matteo with someone that wasn’t him, and knowing _he_ was the reason that was happening.

He felt the ache in his chest lesson as he gripped at his father’s shirt and cried until he didn’t think any more tears would come. When he pulled away and wiped his face as he calmed down, knowing that everything was still shit, he realized that the crying had helped. 

David looked up at his dad who was watching him carefully. If David ever cried, he usually would do that with his mother or with Laura. He wasn’t sure when the last time his father saw him crying was, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel self-conscious about it. Still, though, “I’m sorry.” He muttered to his dad. 

“Don’t apologize.” His dad said immediately and David nodded. He moved over to the sink and splash some water on his face.

After that, they were quiet for a little bit, turning to focus on the waffles again and working in companionable silence. When they sat down at the counter, David noticed his dad was watching him. 

“What is it?” He asked, frowning.

“You really are the best, man.” He said and he laughed loudly when David scoffed at him in disgust.

Later, when David was driving back home, he thought about how Matteo looked with Peter again. He knew it would take a while before he fully accepted their relationship, but he also knew that he didn’t want to let go of his friendship with Matteo. He would smile and hide his heartbreak if it meant he didn’t lose Matteo. He could do that. He _would_ do that. 

He parked his car and walked up to his apartment building, thinking about giving Matteo some space and contacting him in a week or so to talk and apologize properly. He would ask Laura for advice, even though she was probably tired of him not listening to her. 

But then there he was, sitting on the steps and looking up at him with big round eyes. 

David watched as Matteo pushed himself off the ground and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.

He kept his eyes open for a second, wanting to make sure that he wasn’t imagining this. Once David realized that Matteo was actually here with him _right now_, he wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him as close to him as he possibly could, returning the kiss. 

When they pulled away, both breathless with lips already swollen and still holding onto each other, David stared at Matteo like he’d never seen him before.

“You know you don’t deserve a second chance, right?” Matteo told him, breaking the silence, chuckling quietly.

“Oh, yeah,” David responded, unable to come up with anything else. He moved his hands up to cradle Matteo’s face. “I love you, Matteo.” He told him seriously, not wanting to wait to say it again.

Matteo watched him for a second, this time it was his turn to look at David as if he’d never seen him before. “I love you, David.” He said and pulled him in for another kiss. 

They stayed there, not caring that they were outside where people could see them and not caring if they were blocking the entrance because they were together. That was all that mattered right now.

***

“Hey, everyone. Thanks for coming. I’m David, son of the groom.” 

David chuckled and looked down at the paper in his hands, reading over the next line before continuing. 

“If you’re wondering why I’m up here, giving this best man speech, well, so am I.”

Matteo sat in a chair in front of him, quietly watching David practice the speech that he’d be giving at his dad’s reception later on in this very room. It had been Matteo’s suggestion for him to practice here so he’d have a nice feel of the room before he had to speak in front of a room of people. He was _very _helpful. 

Also, he wanted the opportunity to judge him the way David had judged him when it was his turn to speak at Jonas’s wedding. 

“The truth is,” David went on, ignoring the look of amusement that Matteo was already giving him. “I made a pretty big deal about all of this because I–I just didn’t want to do it. To me, a third marriage was ill-advised. I mean, hell, even a second one was hard to swallow.” He paused and looked at Matteo, who was frowning now.

“Should I shout Laura out here? Or would that be awkward?” He asked him, thinking it over. 

“That would be incredibly awkward, David. What the hell?” 

“Okay, okay.” David responded, “You’re totally right. Anyway…” He looked down at the paper where he’d written _ ‘point and nod at Laura’ _ and hoped that he didn’t forget that he should _not_ do that when the time came, and continued. 

“But also, I just didn’t get it. I believed in things like fate and love at first sight, and that once you found _ the one _…well, that would be it.” 

Matteo watched him as he fumbled with his notes again, admiring how he bit down on his lip as he contemplated if the next words were right. He was probably remembering how he was to Matteo when Matteo was filled with nerves. But he wouldn’t say anything just yet. He’d give him the space he needed and laugh at him later. 

“But the truth is if you spend your whole life looking for perfect…you wind up with nothing.” David echoed his words from the night he visited his dad, and he remembered the heartbreak he’d felt when he thought everything was over with Matteo. If that was the case, he wondered if the speech he wrote would’ve been different. “I no longer think love is about chance run-ins or cute accidents. I’ve realized that it’s much simpler than that. It’s about finding someone you want to hang out with as long as humanly possible and just…just trying not to screw it up.” 

David stopped speaking, his eyes focusing on Matteo a second too long. 

A frown formed on Matteo’s lips when he noticed how sad David looked at that moment. “Keep going.” Matteo encouraged him, smiling softly. He guessed he was thinking about their weeks apart, but they’d talked about it and things were okay now. They still had a ways to go, but they would do it together. 

He blinked at him and nodded, seeming to return to himself and cleared his throat before continuing. “But you will mess up. No matter how hard you try, you’ll get in your own way. But if you can learn from your mistakes…” David thought back to when he saw Matteo sitting on the steps waiting for him. He remembered the way Matteo pulled him into a kiss and how he kept his eyes open to make sure he was actually there. 

_ You know you don’t deserve a second chance, right? _

The words echoed through his head and he knew then and now that that was very true. He didn’t deserve a second chance, but he was so glad he’d gotten one. “If you can learn from your mistakes, you might just build something even better.” 

Matteo grinned at him from where he sat, and David couldn’t help but grin back at him. 

“So, I’d like to raise a glass. Congratulations Gina and Dad.” David waited to hear what Matteo had to say about it, but a few awkward seconds passed before Matteo realized that the speech was actually done and he scoffed at him. 

“That’s it?” He asked, incredulous. 

“What do you – what do you mean, _ that’s it _?” David asked, offended. 

“David, you cannot shout out your dad’s divorces like that!” Matteo shook his head in mock disappointment, “Gina’s gonna kill you.” 

“I’m just trying to be honest.” David groaned, walking over to Matteo and leaning against the table. 

“Then be honest!” Matteo told him, “Just say, _ ‘I learned about love after I hurt Matteo and then came crawling back’_.” He grinned at him, moving off the chair before David could grab him. 

“I did not come crawling back to you!” David gasped, chasing him as he ran away. 

Matteo rolled his eyes, choosing to hide behind a chair at one of the other tables. “Oh, you fucking _crawled_. You crawled, Schreibner. Don’t deny it.” 

“If anything, _ you _ crawled back.” David reminded him, still following him as he tried to get away from David. It was a futile attempt because David would catch him eventually and then he would have to pay. 

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Matteo gasped, his eyes widening at the words. He didn’t have time to react to anything else when David lunged forward to grab him and Matteo giggled loudly as he managed to dodge him once again. 

David didn’t stop and he was on him before he could react. He wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close to his body and Matteo couldn’t fight back, not when David was looking at him the way he was. 

“You did,” David said in a low voice, his eyes moving from Matteo’s eyes to his lips and then back to his eyes again. “You _literally_ waited for me to come home, and then you kissed me real good.” 

Even though he was stuck, Matteo still tried to fight because he just couldn’t let David win that quickly. But, he was melting into his embrace and David had a smug look on his face because he knew he was winning. “That’s not how I remember it.” Matteo attempted, his voice cracking when David’s face came closer to his. 

David rolled his eyes and pressed a chaste kiss to Matteo's lips, pulling away slightly to look at him. “Matteo, are you actually going to help me with this speech?” 

“Yes,” Matteo responded and wrapped his arms around David’s neck, finally. “Okay, fine. Why don’t you end it with ‘boom shakalaka’?” 

“Hell, yes!” David agreed, grinning widely and Matteo laughed out loud. 

“Okay, I did not expect that!” He said and David kissed him again. They stayed there, holding onto each other until Laura walked into the room and scolded them. 

Later, after the speeches and the first dance, the happily married couple pulled everyone into a family photo. After the initial couples’ photos, Gina insisted on having Laura and David take several photos with the boys until she was satisfied with them. Then there were pictures with all the bridesmaids, quickly followed by the groomsmen (much to Matteo’s amusement and David’s horror), and then finally the family photos. 

David’s father wanted a photo with all of them, and so David walked over to stand beside Laura, who already had their father’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. 

“Get in here!” David heard his dad say and when he looked up, he realized that he was talking to Matteo. 

Matteo frowned, looking around to see if Mr. Schreibner was talking to someone else. When he realized that it was him, he smiled and shook his head. “Oh no, it’s okay.” He told him and his eyes flickered over to David. He’d told him how he felt that day when they were at his cousin’s wedding and they’d insisted on having David in the photo. He didn’t want to make David uncomfortable again with making things move too fast for him. 

David’s eyes found Matteo and he opened his arms all warm and welcoming, sure that Matteo was only saying no because he didn’t want to make David uncomfortable. “Come on.” He said to Matteo, inviting him into the photo and, in a way, inviting him to be a part of his life forever. 

Matteo hesitated for just a second before he quickly made his way over to David, who immediately wrapped his arms around him. They adjusted themselves so Matteo was still wrapped in his arms, but David could rest his chin on his shoulder. 

“I love you,” David murmured into Matteo’s ear and Matteo turned his head to give him a quick peck on the cheek before turning to face the camera again. 

“I love you, too.” He said back to him and they both grinned when they heard Laura scoff at them.

Matteo was sitting on David’s lap hours later, his head resting on his shoulder as they listened to the music that was playing softly in the background. Almost everyone was gone now, even Laura had gone home an hour ago, but the atmosphere was nice and none of them wanted to move just yet.

David was running his fingers up and down Matteo’s back, not thinking of the consequences when Matteo got too comfortable. He was humming along to the song that was playing and watching his dad and Gina talking to their friends while thinking over the events that brought him to where he was now. 

His thoughts were filled with everything that had happened the past summer, and how, despite the messiness, he was happy. They were happy.

Suddenly, he felt Matteo’s hand go limp in his. He hadn’t noticed that Matteo’s breathing was slowing down as they sat there in silence, but he probably should’ve kept Matteo talking instead of thinking quietly.

“Matteo?” He whispered, softly tapping his shoulder. 

“Hmm?” Matteo groaned, not opening his eyes. 

“Let’s go home,” David told him, ruffling his hair. 

“Yours or mine?” Matteo asked him after a few seconds, finally opening his eyes and pushing himself up to look at him properly. 

“Yours is closer.” 

Matteo nodded, “Will you carry me?” 

David laughed and shook his head. “No, but you can lean on my shoulder.” 

“Well then, I’m not moving.” 

“Then, I’m leaving you here and going home by myself.” 

Matteo scoffed, “You wouldn’t dare.” 

“Oh?” David challenged, and before Matteo could stop him, he picked him up off his lap and sat him on the chair next to them. 

“You don’t have a key so you won’t be able to get in!” Matteo objected, fully awake now. 

David made a tsk sound and stood up, “I do have a key and,” He paused to thoughtfully tap his chin, “wasn’t I the one that drove us here today?” 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Matteo said again, finally standing up so they were eye to eye. 

“Are you sure, Florenzi?” David asked him and he leaned forward to give him a quick kiss before running off. 

_ "David! _” Matteo shouted when he realized what David was doing and he quickly followed behind him, laughing loudly and hearing David’s laughter ahead of him.

David wasn’t running as fast as he could just so Matteo could catch up with him quickly, and he was glad when he got close enough that he could see Matteo’s grin when he turned to look at him. 

When they got to the parking lot, David stopped suddenly and turned so he could catch Matteo in his arms when he eventually ran into him. 

“You didn’t fall this time,” He teased and Matteo rolled his eyes. 

“Whatever,” Matteo said, feeling his cheeks heat up as he remembered that night. “Take me home.”

David grinned at him and pulled him closer so he could press little kisses all over his face, laughing when he heard Matteo squeal in response. “Let’s go home.” He whispered and he stepped away and put his hand out for Matteo to take.

Hand in hand with the music from the reception playing softly, they walked the rest of the way to the car, the moonlight shining down on them.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reminder, this fic was heavily based on an actual movie named Plus One that came out in 2019! It's a very good movie, one of my faves at this point with the number of times I've rewatched it for this fic, and I am still not tired of it. Let me know your thoughts if you do watch it!!

**Author's Note:**

> \- comments, questions, suggestions? i welcome it!  
\- i'm sorry if they come off a little mean!  
\- i am [superdanys](https://superdanys.tumblr.com/) on tumblr if y’all wanna chat  
\- please tell me if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes lol


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